Stormy Sunset
by giansar
Summary: Not HBP compliant. Due to a betrothal made years before the thought of a child came to the mind of Robert Granger, Hermione must spend most of her seventh year married to a boy she barely knows. And he has a secret.
1. Introduction

Hi everyone. This is a remake of my first attempt at fanfiction Stormy Sunset which was regretfully taken off due to a misunderstanding. It has been updated to take ito account everything that took place in the J.K.R series up to the Department of Mysteries in OotP. It is meant to be light hearted fun, not serious. Hermione is not canon because, no matter how hard I try, I can't write characters like Rowling does. Her birth year is as per the DVD so the plot will work. If none of this bothers you, please read on. If not, I'm sorry to disappoint you.

I love reviews but prefer constructive criticism to mindless squeeing. This doesn't mean you shouldn't leave a review if you can't see anything wrong, but honestly, there is going to be mistakes I missed since I don't have a beta. P.S. That was a hint.

This takes place in Harrys' seventh year and does not take into account anything from, and including, the Department of Mysteries onwards.

**The Introduction**

Hermione had always loved to solve puzzles. Finding the aspects of a situation that didn't seem to make sense and unraveling the lines of logic until the answer just clicked. It was why she loved Hogwarts so much, even when she had been almost alone with only Aly to talk to occasionally. Hogwarts was like the ultimate puzzle, just when you think you solved all the secrets another one would take it's place.

The second most beneficial puzzle she had found to date, first being Professor Snapes' riddle to guard the philosophers stone, was the puzzle of what could and could not work at Hogwarts. The question had come to her after she had told Harry and Ron that electronic bugs did not work at Hogwarts.

"All those substitutes for magic Muggles use- electricity, and computers and radar, all those things- they all go Haywire around Hogwarts…"

(GoF p 475-476)

Only that wasn't true, pretty much every student raised in a primarily muggle world wore a standard muggle watch which ran on electricity and still worked in Hogwarts. She always checked her watch after returning from Hogwarts because of the time difference from Hogwarts and wherever her parents were vacationing for that summer and her watch had always kept time perfectly. Even the smallest amount of electricity would react in the same way that a large electrical field would. It did not make sense that some electrical items worked and others did not and Hermione did not like it when things didn't lake sense, so she researched it until it did.

The first step to solving a puzzle was to work out what was known, what was presumed and what was a complete mystery. She surveyed a sample collection of students to see what the common belief was and researched the information available in books, then she stated her question and the ways in which she could answer the question.

The simplest way in which she could solve this puzzle was to simple test the theory. Bring in range of technologies and see which worked and which didn't. Test the reaction of various technology based on the way in which it worked and how much energy was expended in order for the device to work. Luckily she had indulgent parents who would replace whichever pieces of technology were scrambled in this venture. Which turned out to be completely unnecessary, every single item she brought with her was fine from the digital alarm clock to the advanced laptop computer with built in satellite uplink for a world-wide internet connection. Granted the internet and her mobile phone did not work on Hogwarts grounds but there was a suitable clearing in the forest which was somewhat accessible when she needed the web. Her mobile had no reception, even with the satellite connection.

Basically a rumor had been spread to discourage the use of technology at Hogwarts so that muggles would pick up any traces of people inside the area. Magic appeared odd and could be explained as imagination, actual evidence of technology was hard proof. Besides magic was easier and faster, for most students anyway, and even if they did want to bring in some form of technology, there was no powerpoint to make them work. It didn't matter if technology could or could not work at Hogwarts, there was no reason to bring any form of it to Hogwarts anyway.

Hermione was not most people. If her laptop worked at Hogwarts she was going to buy a heap of batteries and bring it. It was faster to type her notes onto the computer and use the find command then it was to search manually few hundreds of pages of parchment, no matter how organized and color coded the parchment notes were. It was easier to sleep when she had emptied her thoughts into a journal and her computer was a lot more secure as a password protected hidden computer file then as a ward protected physical book which could be physically taken away. Then there was the fact that chatting with her parents online was a much quicker and more humane way of sorting out her problems then corresponding by owl and working the poor creatures half to death. Now the owl's were only used to send dead and recharged batteries. Unfortunately the ever so quickly approaching storm was stopping that parental guided of problem solving so at the moment she was left with her own wits.

That left her sitting in her favorite thinking spot contemplating a way out of her current mess. Hermione was rather glad that she had com across this spot. She had found it in her third year when she had been fighting with Harry. She had been wandering the more abandoned portions of Hogwarts and come across a room that had an almost perfect view of the forbidden forest. She had climbed on the windowsill to contemplate view and had happened to notice that there was a veranda roof right below the window that would be flat enough and sturdy enough to walk on. It was also placed about torso height below the window so it would be dangerous to get to.

All in all it was the perfect place for solitude, a place to be left alone to think without giggling, chattering or cries for help with homework. Even if someone came into the room they would only see her if the leaned out the window and looked straight down and according to the Mauruaders Map she was floating in mid air. This was the perfect place to be alone and at the moment she was both loving and hating the feeling.

Her problem had begun that morning with the arrival of the mail and the _Daily Prophet_ that had been dropped on her plate. For once the pertinent news was emblazoned on the front cover and not hidden away in a square inch article at the bottom of a page next the most boring article in the entire paper. This time it was headlining news: The Witch Auctions.

'In what is likely to be the most controversial move he has made in his entire political career, Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic has passed what has been called 'The most idiotic law ever.' In an effort to raise Britain declining birthrates the Wizengamot last night passed a law which demands witches of child bearing age are to be married within a month of the completion of their formal education. If witches find they do not have a husband by 1st August their name will be entered on a registry and the witches will be offered at a public auction on the 1st September.

In accordance with the law all current betrothal's and engagements are to be honored within a month of the youngest participants coming of age and all currently unwed witches of child bearing age are to find a spouse within a month. If these witches do not marry within the month they will be auctioned on the first auction to be held on the 1st of June. The auction, to be held annually on the 1st September for the next ten years, is only open to unwed or widowed wizards of marriageable age or the Patriarch of the family who may bid for unwed male of his line and will endorse a wizarding ceremony striving for two children to result from the union.

Further details on page five.

The news had, obviously, created a stir. Within ten minutes all the students were talking about the article and law, most in shock or denial. Hermione, already seeing what would happen had gone up to her dormitory and grabbed her second book bag which had her laptop and muggle stationary in it, then climbed onto the roof to think. She didn't want to get married. She was confident that some one would ask her but she had no interest for any wizard of an appropriate age that she had met. Most of the boys in her classes were childish or simply did not hold any form of appeal for her and she had not really known any of the older barring the Weasley's. It was only November and she still had most of the year to decide who to marry but that also meant she had almost a year of the guys acting like morons trying to attract attention and the more eager boys trying to get laid early because they would get married soon. Hermione was going to suggest a sex education class when she got the courage to go back into the castle and hint that the pumpkin juice be laced with a contraceptive potion.

It was likely that she was over reacting to the concept of witches being sold to the highest bidder. It was probably just stress from the Final Confrontation, as the last battle with Voldemort had been called, but she was rather emotional about this whole concept and it would be a year before the Wizengamot could hear any petition that the law be overturned. This years' graduating class and any unwed witches of an appropriate age already would be forced into a marriage or mocked because they had no takers. It was a serious problem, particularly since the fine print read that any marriage that took place after a month of eligibility must be a wizarding ceremony and could not be annulled without the blessing of a Wizengamot member, which would likely only be given after the birth of two children.

Like she would do with any other problem, Hermione had switched on her computer, typed out her thoughts and worked on the problem with an analytical mind. She noted everything she knew about the law and ways she could get more information. Then, as she was Head Girl, she made a list of all the problems that this law could cause in the school and ways the school might handle it. Finally she made a list of all the candidates for herself and noted the relevant information them.

She was still working on the list when an owl swooped down to perch on the windowsill above her head. Hermione tilted her head back to look at the owl and got a poke on the check for her trouble as the owl drooped an envelope on her face.

"Ow. That was uncalled for."

The owl hooted it's disdain and flew of again as Hermione broke the seal and took out her letter. It was the Headmaster.

Dear Miss Granger,

Please come see me in my office in ten minutes time to discuss some current affairs. You will find the password has not changed since your last meeting with me. Please refrain from sitting on any Hogwarts roofs in the future unless you have company to help ensure your safety.

Professor A. Dumbledore

After checking the time and saving her documents, Hermione packed up the laptop and climbed back into the empty room. She didn't have time to drop her bag back into her room, but if the Headmaster knew she was on the roof by herself he may well know that she had smuggled in electronics and didn't mind so long as she kept it a secret. He would be distracted by the prospect of his students being forced into marriage anyway. Slinging her bag over her shoulder, Hermione set of for the gargoyles that marked the Headmasters office.


	2. The story

I do not own the characters from Harry Potter or Blaise's notebook. I'm not entirely sure where the book comes from actually. The description of the International Baccalaureate is from The British School Website: http/www.thebritishschool.pl/curriculumib.php

I've become a worshipper of the Lexicon so the information is as accurate as I can get it. If anyone complains about the price of the studying session, I spent almost an hour trying to find out how much it would cost to study dentistry and chose to earn on the side of caution. University websites suck.

Luna: I remember you. The story line is still there, I still have all the original chapters. There will be new aspects as I incorporate what I know about the later books and I know my version of Hermione and Blaise better now then when I started later. The next chapter for example is completely new.

**The Story**

The walk to the office was almost quite. Most of the students were in their common room, the girls that were out were huddled together and the boys that were out were leering at the girls. After eight inappropriate remarks were made to her Hermione ducked into a closet and whispered a do-not-notice spell to deflect attention from her. The innuendo whispered to the small pockets of females in the school still managed to shock Hermione and draw her from the previous shock instilled by the publicized law. By focusing on the plight of others she could forget about any immediate problems she herself could be facing.

Dropping the spell when she reached the gargoyles, Hermione entered the staircase to the office. While waiting for the stairs to deliver her to the secondary door Hermione cleared her mind. It was a ritual she followed whenever she discussed something important or felt like hiding something from someone. You could never be certain the Headmaster would not scan her thoughts and sometimes what you were thinking would be reflected in your expression. Consciously clearing her mind ensured that Hermione's secrets would be kept and that she was completely focused on whatever topic Professor Dumbledore wished to discuss.

Arriving at the door Hermione stepped forward and rapped on the door.

"Come in Miss Granger."

The door swung open and Hermione entered. She looked the room, noticing that Blaise Zabini was there drinking a hot drink, and took the only seat available which was next to Blaise.

"Thank you for coming so promptly Miss Granger, would you like a drink?"

"Yes thank you Headmaster, Tea would be great."

Professor Dumbledore conjured a steaming mug of tea and presented it to her. Murmuring her thank you's, Hermione accepted the cup and took a sip. Professor Dumbledore leaned back into his chair and seemed content to just look at the two students before him. Hermione just sat back herself and waited as well. There were certainly worse things she could be doing at the moment. After a moment Dumbledore shook his head minutely.

"Forgive me children, I seemed to have drifted off for a moment. I called you here because of the law that was passed last night. Sadly my duties here keep me from most convenings of the Wizengamot and I was not aware of the presenting or passing of this law. I was hoping to get your opinions on the matter, being closer to the students you are more likely to have an accurate idea of how this will affect them."

"I think most of the students are in shock, I was for most of the day." Hermione explained.

"It's four o'clock in the afternoon and the 'prophet came at nine this morning. You haven't even known for most of the day." Blaise was condescending.

"Since I am still experiencing shock and have no inclination to fight the feeling, I still feel justified to make the statement."

"You also spent your time between finding out and coming here in hiding. You have no right to speak of those you know nothing about. You have no idea how every one else is coping, though you should, as Head Girl it is your responsibility to support the students."

"I have lived with the students for six years. I know how they will act. The fact that I barely saw any students on my way here is proof enough that I was correct in my assumptions. And what would a Slytherin know about supporting a student?"

"A lot more then you demonstrated. I spent my time in the library counseling Slytherin girls who were in tears about their betrothal contracts being pushed forward. Some of them haven't met their fiancé yet, they were originally meant to have a few months to get to know them, now some of them will only meet on their wedding day if the husband will consent to such haste. In case you are interested, Virginia Weasley came in, she was looking for you"

"Some of the students already eighteen. Won't they have to complete the contract now?" Hermione ignored the information about Ginny, she was astounded, she knew that people still betrothed their children but she hadn't thought that there would be people in Hogwarts in that situation.

"None of the students that came forward were. Betrothal is as common in the wizarding world as it is in the muggle world. Generally only parents who had an arranged marriage themselves will arrange one for their children, I only know of seven families who follow the practice. In Hogwarts we have two girls and three boys who are betrothed. There is another girl and boy in the sixth year. Luckily the girls in our year are seventeen, one of the boys are betrothed to the girl so he is fine and the other two boys are betrothed to younger girls. Susannah Earnwurst isn't as lucky. She will turn 18 in October next year and won't be able to complete her NEWTS. She doubts that her parents will let her return next year if the law is still in place."

"That's horrible. I can't imagine what it would be like to have to leave before I finish my studies. Why would the ministry make the law like that?" Hermione's voice was small and clearly upset.

"They just don't think. They see what they want and come up with the quickest way to get there. If the people are to be married anyway, why let them wait?"

"As sad as this topic is, it is more relevant then I believe you are aware of. Do either of you need a new cup of tea?"

Both Hermione and Blaise nodded and held their mugs out to Professor Dumbledore who refilled them with a wave of his wand.

"Many years ago when I had just become Headmaster I had a young man approach me about career options in the muggle world. He wished to go to a muggle university and did not have the necessary documents to enroll. It was the first time that a student had approached me with a genuine interest in attending a muggle university and I was more then happy to help. Unfortunately as the young man did not have the knowledge he would have gained when achieving those documents I could not just conjure them for him. Instead I helped him to complete the studies he would need to enter the university. I knew he had drive and ability to learn so he could complete the course in one year rather then the standard two so I found him a tutor who had completed the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme, I believe you both know what that is,"

Both students nodded. The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme is a rigorous pre-university course of studies, leading to examinations, that meets the needs of highly motivated secondary school students between the ages of 16 and 19 years. Designed as a comprehensive two year curriculum that allows its graduates to fulfill the requirements of a wide range of national education systems, the diploma model is based on the pattern of no single country but incorporates the best elements of several.

"…to tutor him. I knew a young man who had just completed the course himself. He had graduated from The British School with honors and wanted to work for a year before beginning his studies at university. His great aunt was an old friend of mine who had left the wizarding world but she still corresponded with me. She was exceedingly proud of her great nephew and was upset that he refused her pay for his university tuition. She knew most jobs that did not require a degree would not pay well and he would have to work very hard to save enough to pay for five years of tuition as well as books. I knew that these two young men would work well together and both would achieve their goals. I set up a meeting and a deal was made. Robert Granger would tutor Zechariahs Zabini daily and Zechariah would pay 30 pounds a day."

"My father tutored his father? Why is this relevant to our previous discussions? My dad never mentioned the Zabini's."

Hermione was very confused. Blaises eyes were wide but that was the only indication that he was even listening.

"Patience Miss Granger. Please allow me to finish. It was deemed easier for both men if they were to live together and it seemed obvious that sometime during the year Zechariah would be exposed as a wizard, so Robert was told straight out by his aunt. Robert and Zechariah naturally became great friends and Robert introduced Zechariah to his family. Zechariah was greatly impressed by Robert's aunt, he recognized her from a gathering he attended as a small boy and knew how powerful she was. He saw the great qualities that were inherent in all the members of Roberts family and knew that Robert would pass those qualities on."

Professor Dumbledore sighed and absently popped a sweet into his mouth. He could see the growing denial in Hermione's eyes but found he could not read Blaise.

"The tutoring went well and the next year I tested Zechariah with the same test that the other students of that year were using. Zechariah did well and was accepted into the same university that Robert was to attend. The friendship grew stronger as the years past; it seemed that nothing would ever divide the two men. The night after they graduated Zechariah and Robert went out to celebrate. They quickly became inebriated and talked about their friendship. I can only assume that the topic came to Zechariah's envy of Roberts future children because the next morning they came to me with a rather detailed betrothal contract that was 'iron clad' I believe the muggle term is, it was also magically binding and completely irreversible."

"My parents hadn't even met when my dad was in Uni. How could he betroth me 20 years before I was conceived? My dad's sperm hadn't even been created yet. Why was I not told about this earlier?"

Hermione was almost hysterical. This morning her wedding was a year away. Now she was effectively being told she was marrying a man who was virtually a stranger in a month. It was well and truly inconceivable.

"Professor Dumbledore, are you absolutely certain that _Granger_ and _I_ have to be married. Surely our fathers did not betroth us by name. They would not have specified their first born as we could have been born with the same sex and honestly, we could have been born almost twenty years apart. My dad married that next year, I could have been born nine months later. Surely we could persuade the ministry that the contract could just as easily be talking about our prospective siblings."

"Regretfully your fathers were rather specific in their requirements. It is rather surprising that they were intoxicated when they wrote it. The contract betroths the first pair of children of Robert Granger and Zechariah Zanbini who are born a maximum of five years apart and were of different gender. The children were not to be told of their engagement directly or indirectly by any parent, either biologically or remarriage. This includes being told by another person under instruction of a parent. The children who fit the age and gender aspect of the betrothal contract are free to marry until they are told of the betrothal which was meant to be on your 21st Blaise, as you are the youngest member of the pairing. Once told of the betrothal you have a year to choose if you would marry each other. If you choose not to it must be because you choose someone else and if you to do so you have three years to produce a child. If you choose to have a muggle wedding and then decide to divorce you must first attend muggle marriage counseling, or have failed to produce a child in the first three years of marriage."

"So we can choose not to marry each other, and we have a year in which to decide." Hermione saw the perfect exit there. The new law guaranteed she will have chosen a different husband within a year.

"Unfortunately no, a betrothal contract exists that binds you both. The content of that contract does not matter in terms of the law. As long as it exists and binds you both you are subject to the terms of that aspect of the law. If you are not married in 30 days you, Hermione, will be on the action block in June. You will not be able to marry in the intervening time and you will have no choice as to who to marry on the day."

"No! That can't be possible. I am not ready to be married. Particularly not to someone I do not even know."

"I am sorry my dear. I would suggest that you and Blaise find a place to talk. Come tell me your decision tomorrow afternoon after lunch. We can discuss the details of what you decide then."

"Thank you Professor. I know where we can go if you are willing to talk about this with me Zabini."

"I'm willing, and call me Blaise."

"Thank you Blaise, and you should call me Hermione."

The two left and Professor Dumbledore took another scrap of parchment. By now Minerva should be calm enough to talk to about her predicament.

**Next to the gargoyles**

"I need to get something from my dorm before we go. Do you want to come with me or meet me by the front door?" Hermione asked.

"Are we going outside?"

"Yes, if you don't mind. Wait at the portrait or at the doors?" Hermione was annoyed.

"Lets meet at the front doors. I should do something in my room first. I may be a few minutes."

"It will take a while to get away from Harry and Ron anyway. Let's say twenty minutes? I should go to the owlery as well."

"That's plenty of time. I'll meet you there and then."

Blaise and Hermione parted ways with Hermione going to the owlery and Blaise to the Slytherin dorms.

Once at the owlery Hermione wrote a quick message: 'I need to talk to you at six tonight. Please be online, with webcam.' It was quarter to five so the message should get there on time. She called down one of the school owls to deliver the message then went back down the towers and to Gryffindor tower.

She stood to the side as she said the password so that no one could see her as the door swung open. When the Fat Lady was at the wrong angle to see her Hermione said her see-me-not spell and climbed into the portrait, closing the door behind her. A few students saw the strange sight of the portrait door opening and closing without anyone coming in or out but could not really do anything about it. Hermione snuck into her room and checked to see if anyone was there. Lavender, Ginny and Parvati were talking on Lavender's bed. There was no way that Hermione could open her trunk without someone spotting something. Ducking back out Hermione ended the spell and went back in.

"Ginny, there you are."

"Hermione, we've been looking all over for you. You just disappeared after breakfast." Lavender complained.

"Sorry about that Lavender. There was something I needed to do. Ginny, I need your help with something, are you free?"

"What do you have to do Hermione?" Parvati asked.

"I can't really say sorry Parvati. I just came from a meeting with Professor Dumbledore and I don't think he want's the information commonly known. I'm only getting Ginny because her name came up."

"Is it about that article from this morning?" Lavender asked.

"Sort of. Ginny, can you come?" Hermione was annoyed.

"Of course Hermione."

"Great."

Hermione went to her trunk and unlocked it. She grabbed the box that contained her webcam items and a spare battery and put them in her bag. It barely fit with the laptop, notebooks and pencil case but it would do. Hermione and Ginny left.

**In the Slytherin boy dorms**

Blaise lay on his bed and fished a small notebook out from under his mattress. Talking a pot of ink and a quill from a drawer in his bedside table he began to write.

"Cass, I need to talk to talk to you. Come to Hogwarts at one tonight, I'll meet you at the Greenhouse. See you soon."

He added a small symbol that vaguely resembled an angel and the ink glowed gold then disappeared, the date and time appeared on the top right corner of the page.. Blaise watched the notebook for a few minutes then had a massive smile. A new message had appeared.

"Why do we have codenames Serpentine?"

Blaise laughed and drew the symbol again. The writing disappeared, the date and time appeared under the last notation. Blaise wrote a new message.

"You don't need a code name angel, you're already perfectly protected. I need to go soon but you should know that I am probably getting married in a month, I'll give you a cookie if you can tell me who to when we meet tonight. Love you angel."

A symbol later and the writing was gone and noted. Blaise waited a few moments again, he was certain Cassandra would reply. She did.

"You're evil. You can shove the cookie where you keep that massive stick of yours. Love you too."

Blaise laughed again and hid the message. Once it was noted he closed the notebook and hid it under the bed again. The enchantments on the book were impossible to break and few Slytherins would ever consider looking under a mattress for something hidden. After all, that's what powerful wards were for.

Blaise slid off the bed and stretched. It was early but he may as well go to meet Hermione now.


	3. Tell the Parents

All characters except Aunt Sarah belong to J. K. Rowling. Charge of the Light Brigade belongs to Lord Alfred Tennyson. It's actually a very good poem but sad if you really think about.

I am beginning to think that no one reads these but if you do I am still looking for a beta reader.

**Tell the parents**

"So Hermione, you were unusually ambiguous up there. Want to tell me what's up?" Ginny asked. She and Hermione had become close friends after Ginny's second year. They spent most of the summer and most of the time Hermione didn't spend studying alone or with Harry and Ron together. It wasn't a lot of time but it was still a close friendship.

"I wish I could Gin, but there are too many people about. Put shortly, that new law requires me to marry within the next thirty days. I need to meet with my prospective husband now, and then we're going to yell at my parents. I'll come get you when I come back and I'll tell you the details."

"That's why you met with Dumbledore?" Ginny asked.

Hermione nodded.

"Then how did my name come up. I know you. You always tell the truth, even if it is not obvious."

"My prospective husband mentioned you. He saw you looking for me today."

"You don't get to wait till the end of the school year… The article said all witches of childbearing age, I would assume they meant to include those who have already finished school… and engaged and betrothed. You're not engaged so I would assume your betrothed. Why didn't you tell me? And why weren't you more upset at breakfast? You didn't seem any more upset then the rest of us."

Ginny was completely matter-of-fact. After her experience with Riddle, it took a lot to get her to show emotion. Most of her displays were exactly that, Ginny was a better actor then Hermione herself.

"I didn't know. Apparently my dad got drunk and arranged my engagement 20 years before I was conceived. I found out an hour ago."

"Most wizarding families who arrange their child's marriage are really old. Not all purebloods but definitely complete wizarding blood for at least eight generation. Most of them, meaning no offence, wouldn't touch your family with a ten foot pole. If your family was completely muggle no one would ever presume that you would be born a witch. A wizarding family arranged a marriage between a presumably muggle child and their ninth generation wizarding child about twenty years before either of you are born. That's odd. More information please Hermione."

Hermione stopped walking. She was two minutes from the front doors and by now Blaise would be waiting. Ginny noticed that Hermione had stopped walking and turned back to face her.

"I'll tell you about it tonight. You have two minutes to work out who I may be marrying before you see him. Think fast."

Hermione started walking again. Ginny waited a second and followed, thinking aloud.

"He told you I was looking for you so he was at the meeting but still around before that and I saw him then. I would have spoken to him if he knew I was looking for you. In your year but not a Gryffindor. Not Malfoy, Crabbe or Goyle. Maybe Zabini. Not Goldstien, Michael, Boot, McDougal or Entwhistle. Possibly Cornfoot. Not Hopkins or Macmillion but possible Finch-Fletchley. Blaise, Stephen or Justin. Didn't see Justin and didn't talk to Stephen. How on Earth did your family meet the Zabini's?"

They rounded a corner and saw Blaise waiting.

"I'm glad I didn't bet money. Thanks for providing a distraction Ginny, I'll talk to you later tonight. Thanks for waiting Blaise."

"First name basis already, very interesting." Ginny whispered. "See you later Hermione, Zabini."

"She knows?" Blaise asked.

"I told her about my upcoming nuptials, she guessed your involvement based on a very few, very small clues."

"Smart girl. So where are we going?"

"Into the forest, particularly a small clearing. It isn't due to rain for a few hours and between us we can handle any unruly animals."

"Why?"

"Their's is not to reason why…"

Blaise interrupted. "I don't want to do and die. I don't particularly appreciate the whole Valley of Death implication either."

"You know the poem?"

"I went to Horizon, accelerated program. They're big on their war poetry and 'Charge of the Light Brigade' was my personal favorite, despite Tennyson."

"I went to The British School, started when I was two, probably why I was so eager my first year here. Thought's of witchcraft were mocked unless it was part of a literary deconstruction."

"Could be why you are so good at the essays as well. Most of the kids here don't have a clue about formal writing."

"Can't really blame them, most schools don't address the topic in the junior years. It was the last thing I learnt in English."

"Same with me, in terms of curriculum but I got the basics early. I read a lot of non fiction books."

"I prefer the fantasy section myself, particularly the myths and legends of other cultures. I have a fascination with learning how other people live and their myths form an integral part of their development. Well we're here. Could you transfigure a table and chairs for me please?"

"Fie, but I really want to know why we are here." Blaise complained as he did what she requested.

"Just be patient." Hermione replied then cast a shield charm and anti-humidity charms around themselves and the table.

Once they were protected she brought out the laptop, battery and webcam. She replaced the battery in the computer, turned it on and connected the camera.

"You can get the internet here?" Blaise asked astounded.

"I can hack into the satellites. What time is it?"

"Quarter to six. We were walking rather slowly."

"Great. I owled my parents before getting the camera and they should be online by six. I want some answers about this." Hermione finally let some annoyance in her voice. At this point she didn't care if she hurt Blaise's feelings. Blaise called her up on it.

"I'm not exactly esthetic about this myself you know. I'm not the one who made this law, I didn't support it, and if not for an agreement made twenty years before either of us were conceived I wouldn't be subjected to it. I sympathise with you and all the other women who are subjected to it, but as long as I am not even remotely the cause of your problem, or theirs, I would appreciate it if I wasn't blamed. Even if we weren't betrothed you would still be in this predicament, it would just be delayed a few months."

"Your right Blaise, I'm sorry. I'm just freaking out at the moment. I never in my worst nightmares imagined I would be married while at school. I never imagined myself married at all, certainly not to someone I barely know. I never imagined becoming pregnant by 21. How could my dad have encouraged my ambition when he knew I could well have a child by 25 even if things went as he originally planned and this law never happened?"

"Having a child doesn't mean you can't work. Your parents are medical professionals and they still had you and raised you well."

"My parents had me when they were in their forties. I was their last chance for a child, my mother went through menopause when I was two. That was when they started sending me to The British School. My parents didn't really raise me, my nanny and the school did. I can't afford to do that for my child and I don't really want to either. I want to stay home and actually bond with my child and I can't do that and work."

"Well now is your chance to find out what is happening. It's two past six."

Hermione set everything up and a minute later there was a jerkily moving picture of Hermione's parents on the screen. As he was sitting right next to Hermione, Blaise could see them clearly and presumed that they could see them.

"Hermione sweeting, you sounded somewhat frantic in your note, is something wrong? And who is the young man next to you? You've never brought your friends with you when you talked to us before."

"This is Blaise Zabini, apparently my fiancé. Dad you have a lot of explaining to do."

"So Zechariah's son is at Hogwarts. I wondered when you never mentioned him."

"You arranged my marriage dad! I was engaged 20 years before I was born! I'm going to be married at 18 and in school. I'm magically bound to try to conceive a baby before I'm 21. I'm to try and have a baby before I can legally drink in some countries. I'm planning a marriage to a guy I only started talking to today. How could you do this to me?"

"Are you done sweet thing?" Robert Granger asked.

"I guess you need a chance to explain." Hermione conceded grumpily.

"I do need to explain but I have a few questions first so humor me please. First off, why are you getting married this year? You weren't meant to be worry about it for another 3 years."

"The Ministry of Magic went insane. They passed a law which is forcing every witch who is of childbearing age and of marriageable age to get married. Most current students get to finish their education first but those who are betrothed get to embrace matrimony sooner rather then later. If I don't marry someone within the month I get to be auctioned of to the highest bidder in June. Why did you do this dad?"

"Honey, I'm going to try and arrange a meeting with Professor Dumbledore. I'll come back in a few minutes Hermione." Mrs Granger excused herself.

"Calm down Hermione and listen. You should here this too Blaise. I went to The British School like you did Hermione, you knew that already and you know I did rather well. Even then I wanted to become a dentist but they didn't have student loans then, I had to pay upfront and I wanted to pay myself. Never a borrower or a lender be. I told my family that when they all offered to chip in and lend me the money. Your Great Aunt Sarah talked with her friend Professor Dumbledore and arranged a job for me. Your father, Blaise, wanted to go to a normal university and I was hired to tutor him so he would have the qualifications to get in."

"We know dad, you became friends, stayed friends and finished Uni together. Get to why you decided to arrange my marriage."

"Zechariah and I were very close, much like you and your two friends. Zechariah never really talked about his family but he loved mine. I would invite him to every family gathering we had over those five years, he charmed everyone, particularly Aunt Sarah. He told me that his family was nothing that, that it was obvious that everyone in my family loved each other but in his no one showed love. His parents were particularly bad, they had an arranged marriage as did their parents back through the generations. Zechariah himself had an arranged marriage but he had met his betrothed and he at least liked her. He didn't want that for his children but knew his parents would try to arrange a marriage for their grandchild if he didn't do so himself."

Robert smiled at Blaise wistfully.

"He was really worried about you Blaise and the future you would have. I worried too, Zechariah told me about the unrest in the wizarding world. There was a lot of prejudice in your social class and he knew you were likely to be immersed in it. He knew that any family your grandparents chose to ally you with would be in the thick of it. Zechariah was always thankful that his betrothal was a monetary merging and not political."

"Even then I would never have thought about arranging a marriage between our families but for Aunt Sarah. She broached the subject with me after meeting Zechariah and would remind me every gathering. She stressed that, as she was a witch, it was possible that my child could be as well. A muggle born child would face great prejudice and adversity, the Zabini's were powerful and a marriage would shield the entire family from much of it. It kept echoing in my mind and I broached the subject to Zechariah the night we had graduated."

"I tried to be fair Hermione, I could never have known this was coming. And even know you still have a choice, you need not marry Blaise if you don't want to. I am sure Harry or Ron would marry you, or even the other Weasley's. They would not expect you to leave school nor have children immediately. But please consider Blaise, Zechariah was a great man and he would have raised Blaise right. He came with you to speak to us and he didn't have to, both of you have to be willing or the marriage won't work, the rings will fail." Mr. Granger sounded almost desperate. He loved his daughter and wanted her to be happy.

"The rings will fail?" Blaise asked. Speaking up for the first time.

"Even after the betrothal we remained friends. I was best man at his wedding and he for mine. We intended to remain close for the rest of our lives, our children would be raised together and if the conditions were fulfilled the children would be friends already. I hoped that friendship would already protect you somewhat. But then the war with Voldemort first began. Zechariah had never made his loyalty clear, he was a fair wizard but he felt that he could help muggles if Voldemort won if he had pretended to sympathise with Voldemort. I believe he was somewhat like a spy, like your Professor Snape but he was not an active follower of Voldemort. He passed information from his gatherings onto Professor Dumbledore. When he knew for certain that Voldemort was gathering followers he felt it was to dangerous for our families to remain close."

"I argued but he was adamant. He knew that Voldemorts followers might be dropping in occasionly, trying to get him to chose a side. If they noticed him gone too often they might decide to follow him here, they might decide he was working for Dumbledore and kill him. It left the problem of how to know if we had to fulfill the contract, birth announcement might be lost and if either of us moved the owls may have trouble finding us. We didn't have an owl then anyway, it would be too odd when the neighbors visited. Zechariah's wife came up with the idea. She enchanted a couple of roses."

"Do you remember the glass rosebud we gave you for your fifth birthday Hermione? You swore the petals were opening until we took it away when you were nine. You said it gave you bad dreams?"

"I remember, I kept asking for it back but when you gave it back the next year it seemed different."

Robert Granger nodded. "It was a different one. The real one kept blooming, it is almost fully open now. When Carrabelle enchanted the roses their petals fell off, she gather the petals together and told us to keep them safe. We put them into a small porcelain box and hid it away. When you were born we took out the box and looked inside, we found that the petals were gone and a tiny rose was there inside. The rose matched your rate of growth but by five it was at almost it's full height and the blossoming was very gradual. We were sure that you would not notice until after you started Hogwarts."

"The rings dad."

"Carrabelle said that if you truly wanted to marry each other the roses would become your rings. She said that they were made with love and respond to it in kind. If you do not care for each other the roses will not change, if you care enough to help each other and accept that help the roses will disappear and become your wedding rings."

"Anything else you may need to tell me dad?"

"Aunt Sarah called this morning. She said to tell you to trust your heart and that darkness is merely the absence of you. She also said to remind you that you carry the light inside yourself and bring forth that light through others."

"Aunt Sarah was always cryptic. I just remembered another question dad. Why did you make it so no one could tell us about the contract? You set it up so you couldn't warn me early."

"I wanted you to have choice sweetings. I wanted you to have a chance to find love first, if I told you about the betrothal early you might have been resigned to it. You might not have dated, you might have rebelled and found someone wholly unsuitable to get back at me. It was designed so you and Blaise would know each other first, we weren't prophets Hermione, we didn't know about Voldemort or this damn law."

"I love you dad."

"I love you too Hermione. Let me grab your mother so you can say bye. She's probably hiding so the three of us can talk."

Mr. Granger disappeared and Hermione covered the microphone and turned to Blaise.

"So what do you think about my father?"

"Even if he sent you away he obviously still loves you. It may be why he sent you away."

"Thank you for coming with me Blaise. My father was right, you didn't have to. You were right, you don't have to marry me and you shouldn't be subject to this stupid law."

"I wanted to come with you and I need to make up my mind. Your parents are back."

Hermione turned back to the screen and took her hand away.

"Sorry about that mum, dad. I just needed to ask Blaise something."

"It's fine honey. Sorry about this mess, I must say that government of yours must be severely messed up if a law like this is passed. Let me know what happens." Mrs. Granger said soothingly.

"I can mail the rose if you like. Perhaps it will help you decide." Mr. Granger offered.

"Thanks dad. I'll email you later this week. And sorry for yelling at you, this day has been stressful."

"Not a problem. Remember, all things work for good for those that trust in Me."

A sign popped on screen stating that the Grangers had signed off.

"I guess that just leaves you and me Blaise."

"We should begin deciding what to do. We have enough information to at least begin."

"Let me bring up what I noticed about the law."

"I don't think you will need to refer to it but go ahead."

Hermione took a moment to revise it then turned to Blaise.

"Do you want to marry me?"

"I don't know. It has only been an option for a few hours and I've not had much time to consider it. Like you I never considered marrying, the only girl I felt to was my cousin and I obviously can't marry her. Wouldn't want to anyway, she feels like a sister."

"I can't marry Harry or any of the Weasley's, they're like family to me. I don't know any other guys all that well and most of them are so immature. I can't risk the auction block, too many former Voldemort sympathisers are out there and accidents happen."

"Is it just me or do you use a lot of clichés and pop culture references?"

"Probably just you. Do you have any idea's that might help me?"

"You need someone still at school or who will allow you to stay at school. At school would be best, the ministry may be notified of your marriage and might contest it if you aren't living with your husband."

"You should think short term." Blaise continued. "The law should be appealed by five years. It isn't designed for the long term and after the baby boom that should result there is no use for it anymore. Most of the Wizengamot will allow it to be appealed, especially if Fudge if sacked which he most likely will be."

"Finally you need someone you like but can still ask for a divorce if you want one. You want someone you can be happy with but they will likely be happy with you and you may hurt their feelings if you want a divorce. If you aren't completely happy and can see the marriage failing you need to be able to divorce even if your husband isn't happy with the idea."

Hermione thought about it. Blaise made sense; she was thinking long term and the problem seemed to be more short term. The law would be appealed but not quickly enough. Blaises estimation of five years was pessimistic; it was more likely to be three. In three years she could get a divorce and get her life back on track.

"I'm sure by now you've made a list of candidates to observe. You should make a list of what you need in your husband and rank it by importance. Once you're certain that you know what you need and how badly you need it, compare each candidate to the list. If he has everything and still doesn't seem right disregard him, if he has nothing but it seems right keep him. Just remember it is for the next few years, not for life."

Blaise came up to Hermione and gave her a quick hug.

"You'll work it out and we can meet tomorrow after breakfast finishes to decide what to tell Professor Dumbledore. You still have some time, take the night to think about it."

"Will you marry me if I decide you're the best candidate?" Hermione asked softly.

Blaise sighed. "I'm not sure Hermione. I need the night to think about it myself. You shouldn't consider if the guy will accept because you can't know for sure. Decide on facts and your own feelings, act like any guy you ask will definitely say yes. We should be getting back, it's dark and I believe you said you would be meeting Miss Weasley when you got back."

"You're right again. I'll just pack all this back up and we can go."


	4. Making Decisions

I am posting this early because I am sick and don't know if I will remember tomorrow. Most of it was written last week then I got stuck, hopefully the chapter still flows well. I am still looking for a beta. Insert standard disclaimer here. Love you all.

**Making Decisions**

The walk back to the castle was castle and the two split almost as soon as they entered. Hermione was certain that Ginny would know she didn't want to face the other girls and so went directly to the library to retrieve her. Her hunch proved correct and after a few minutes they were silently circling the empty Quidditch pitch together.

"How did the talk with the parents go? Any blood flying?" Ginny sick of the quiet and overcome with curiosity started a conversation.

"Not really. I couldn't be vicious since Blaise was there. I did get some answers but it hasn't helped me much. I still don't know what to do." Hermione answered.

"If you got some answers can you tell me what is going on? I might be able to help."

"Blaises father wanted to go to a muggle university but since he hadn't gone to a muggle senior school there was no chance he would be accepted and he would be unable to understand most of the work if he had been accepted. My Great Aunt Sarah was a witch who knew Professor Dumbledore well and she suggested that my dad who had just finished school with fantastic marks, tutor Blaise's dad so he could do the tests and be able to go to University. They became friends. Aunt Sarah kept suggesting they join the family through their future kids. Dad got drunk and listened to her and Blaises dad got drunk and listened to him. A betrothal contract got written up with remarkable clarity and almost good sense considering the mental state of the writers and Blaise and I were unfortunate enough to fulfill the requirements."

"What were the requirements?" Ginny asked.

"In terms of who is engaged, the children just had to be of opposite sex and born within five years of each other. In terms of the conditions of the contract, the children can not be told directly or indirectly by the parents. So he couldn't tell me himself and he couldn't direct my mother, friends or a random person walking down the street to tell me."

"Harsh, why did they write that in?"

"They wanted me to have the chance to fall in love. Of course if they had done what they said they were planning and raised Blaise and I together we could have fallen in love anyway."

"Blaise comes from an old family Hermione. His grandparents would have insisted on an arranged marriage for him. As long as his father could swear he had arranged a marriage they could do nothing but if they wrote one up first he would be stuck. Are there any other conditions?"

"I don't have to marry Blaise. Both children must enter matrimony of their own free will."

"Very unusual but infinitely better then most arranged marriages. It's just unfortunate that this law came in."

"If I do choose Blaise I am obliged to begin actively trying to have a child within the next three years."

"That seems a bit hypocritical considering that both sets of parents waited over 15 years before trying to conceive. They must really want grandchildren before they're gone."

"How am I meant to get a job when I am trying to have a small child? Even if I get the job I would need to leave within two years in order to care for it."

"You shouldn't call a child 'It' Hermione. It will make you resent the babe even more. Anything else?"

"In order to divorce Blaise we would need to attend marriage counseling or have failed to produce the child."

"That is again better then most arranged marriages. Actually divorce is almost unheard of in the wizarding world. If you divorce anyone in the wizarding world you have a social stigma for the rest of your life. A lot of wizards will refuse to marry you because it is assumed that the woman is at fault. Any children from the marriage go to the father as it presumed that he can better provide for them. That is generally true because the guy keeps most, in some cases all, of the assets."

"Blaise was encouraging me to think short term and to get a divorce after the law is appealed. I can't believe he was setting me up for that."

"Realistically you are likely to need a divorce Hermione. You have four weeks to find a man and convince him to marry you pretty much immediately despite your still being at school. You do not know anyone other then Victor, my brothers and the kids at school. You're not really attracted to any of them so the chances of you being happy with any of them for the years that the law is in place are low. The chances of you being happy with them for the rest of your life are even lower. Blaise is right, plan for the next few years and be ready to divorce. Your friends will be there for you and you know better then to listen to what everyone else says."

"Talk still hurts Ginny. Sticks and stones may break bones but words destroy the soul."

"I'm sorry Hermione but you're facing a lot of harsh talk anyway. Most of the girls are in shock about the law but you will make them face reality. We're sheltered at Hogwarts because the 'Prophet' puts a positive spin on things but when you get married the girls will see themselves after school. They will realise that they may not get out of it and since they can't attack the ministry they will attack you. Most of us also know witches who have finished school and are subject to the law like you. For this school you represent the law and you will bear the brunt of their reactions to it."

"Who ever I marry will face it too. They may turn against me too; they may resent all the talk they face because they decided to help me. This is impossible Ginny; I'm going to be miserable and make any one who is nice enough to help me miserable to."

"I wish I could help Hermione, but I don't know what will happen. All I can suggest is that you do what makes you happy, but again, I don't know what will make you happy. I do know that Harry and Ron will not make you happy, so I wouldn't advise you put them on your list."

Ginny looked pensively at Hermione. While Hermione would likely never see the point of Quidditch she normally relaxed when she flew. It had been over an hour and Hermione was tenser then when she started.

"We should get back to the dorms then you should have a relaxing bath. Would you like to come to my room in an hour or so and talk or would you rather be left alone? The girls in my room will leave us alone if you want to discuss candidates."

"I think alone will be a better idea. As you said, and it's obviously not your fault, you don't really know how I feel. Blaise and I are meeting to plan our strategy for telling Professor Dumbledore whatever I decide tomorrow after breakfast so I pretty much have to decide tonight. I'll see you tomorrow morning?"

"Yeah. You should really consider Blaise. You may not know him well but that could actually be a good thing. It means he is very decent for a Slytherin and at least on par with the rest of the guys. Being a Slytherin he is already disliked, however unfairly, by most of the students so it won't be a change if they do turn against you both. And he is being rather supportive of you when he could flat out say no; he gave up most of the weekend for you and the other girls. They sought him out, you know, ignored their male friends, their fiancés if they are in this school, and came to Blaise for comfort. He may not be the one for you, but he does seem like a life saver to me."

"I just don't know Gin, but you might be right. He gave me a way to sort this all out when my head was still in shambles. This is the first crisis I've had when I just stopped thinking and lost control, it's not a good feeling."

"I think you have decided, you just need to work it out on paper in order to admit it to yourself."

"I believe I will work it out on paper first but for now a hot bath is calling my name."

Hermione angled her broom downward and put on a rush of speed. She let herself forget everything for a moment and just felt the wind slide across her face. She now had a plan of action and talking to Ginny had convinced her that it would work. Things would be difficult for a while but she had at least one true friend and it seemed she may have made another.

Blaise lay on his bed again, his curtains and canopy charmed to show a relaxing myriad of moving colors. Normally he would be reading the reports that Cassandra had sent him but the first one he had read had been about the new law and that had put thoughts of Hermione in his head that he couldn't get rid of.

He knew he couldn't marry Hermione, it would be too dangerous. His father allowed him his freedom and never questioned where he got off to in the holidays; Hermione would wonder where her husband was. Hermione was perceptive, she would notice that he often wrote in his little book and if she ever got curious and opened it, she would wonder why the only things in it were dates and times. She would wonder how it seemed that he was writing sentences but all that was written was dates. She could look over his should and read what he had written or catch the exact moment that the writing glowed and were compressed into those dates. That would be enough for her to work out how to decode it.

Even worse she could find all the little objects Cassandra had enchanted so they could communicate. She could catch him with Cassandra and blow her cover, or draw unwanted attention to Blaise himself. Blaise had worked hard to remain anonymous at Hogwarts. He was a name that you could put a face to but didn't really know. The scandal of two students marrying while still at school, a school they were attending together, was very newsworthy. The students would be watching and whispering to each other. The pure bloods would be calling him a blood traitor and most would stop confiding in him. The others would be nervous, believing the organization was accepting the law. At the very least it would lower the networks morale.

All the same he couldn't stop considering it. If Cassandra hadn't been born a squib she would be subject to the law and she wouldn't have a choice about who she married. Just as Hermione didn't really have a choice, Blaise had little doubt that she would choose him simply because she didn't have a better option. Cassandra would say he was arrogant, but Blaise knew it was true. It was his job to decipher 'the golden trio' so he knew a lot about Hermione. There was no one at this school who she would be able to stand for a prolonged period of time and few who would understand that it wasn't a true marriage. She would choose him; he just had to decide if he would say yes or no.

The bath had done Hermione good; she had relaxed and calmed her mind to the point where she could look at everything objectively. She had fused the edges of her curtains together and put a silencing charm on them. No one could enter, she couldn't hear anyone and they couldn't hear her. She took out a notebook, pens and her laptop and worked through the lists.

As Blaise suggested she focused on two separate lists. Obviously one was a list of the eligible men, the other was a list of qualities that her husband needed to have. Once that was done she started to compare the men to the qualities, one quality at a time, adding a mark to whoever had it. Whoever had the most points at the end was the person she would ask, if they said no she would ask the runner up.

The winner didn't surprise Hermione, she suspected Blaise would win and knew Ginny had worked it out as well. The runner up did surprise her, she had never thought of any of the Weasley boys as husband material and she knew that Ron would be greatly upset if she asked George to marry her. She struck Fred off as third prospect before if George refused her Fred would as well, which left Seamus as her last chance. If all three refused her Hermione was adamant about taking her ministry and pledging herself to God. If nuns could marry God then why couldn't she?

With the first problem gone, her decision made, Hermione moved onto her next; how could she approach her prospective husband and propose? She would need a ring, she would need to find a quiet spot and she would need to do it before lunch. After ignoring Harry and Ron for most of the day, the boys would be trying to stick with her for all of tomorrow so she would need someone to help distract them. The ring was mostly symbolic; perhaps another symbol would be acceptable. What would be an appropriate symbol was troubling her so Hermione decided to take Ginny up on her offer to help, Ginny would be the perfect distraction for tomorrow anyway.

"Hey Ginny, are you still up for that talk?" Hermione whispered. It had gotten rather late and the other girls were almost asleep.

"Always Hermione, climb in." Ginny pushed back some of her blanket to invite the older girl under. Once Hermione had the blanket over her lap Ginny closed the curtain and cast a silencing spell.

"What have you decided and what do you need help with?" Ginny asked.

Hermione laughed. "You know me so well though I bet you're still going to be shocked. I narrowed it down to three candidates, if the first refuses I ask the second. If he refuses I ask the third. If the third refusing I am going to take my vows to God. Some Muggle nuns are legally married to God, wedding rings and everything."

"I don't see the Ministry agreeing with you there, but go on, who are your candidates?" Ginny probed.

"First is Blaise. Mostly he seemed alright with it."

"Blaise is obvious, I'm not shocked."

"Second is George." Hermione waited for the reaction. She wasn't disappointed.

"My brother George?" Ginny yelled.

"Do we both know any other Georges. I am certainly not going to marry a muggle; I would need to leave school for certain. Not to mention that most of the muggles I know are still in school themselves and if they ever actually believed I was serious they would want to wait until after we both finished school and would not agree to marry if I was already asking for a divorce."

"You are serious about asking my brother to marry you?" Ginny yelled, "Ron would hit the roof and my mother would start to hate you, especially if you planned your divorce before your wedding. Not to mention the fact that you would have to leave school anyway, it may have escaped your notice but George does not attend, nor live near, Hogwarts."

Hermione shook her head, glad that Ginny had thought to place the silencing charm.

"Ginny, George is adventurous and loves a good prank. He would understand that the marriage is a font and won't press for more. He dislikes Fudge as much as you and I do and I think he would love to help someone get around the fine print of the law. While I would hate to upset your mother, I need to protect myself before I can help protect others. Ron will hit the roof if I marry anyone except him, and possibly Harry. Neither of them made it into the top ten, I can't ask them. And I did think about living arrangements. I am certain that I can convince Professor Dumbledore to let me floo to George for the weekend."

"Well you were right about shocking me and your reasoning is sound, if a little twisted and demented. Who's your third choice? I hope not Fred." Ginny asked.

"If one refused, the other would refuse or offer themselves. There would be no point in asking. Third choice is Seamus; he is a lot like the twins but toned down and not as into pranks. Neville was fourth but he might take the marriage a bit too seriously and if he didn't his grandmother would. Anyone else would take it too seriously or push to make it physical, I couldn't handle that." Hermione had gotten lost the enthusiasm she had gained by telling Ginny about George. Ginny noticed.

"It won't matter because Blaise will accept, he may even take the matter out of your hands and propose himself." She said decidedly.

"About that Ginny, I need you to distract the guys so I can talk to Blaise in the morning."

"Not a problem, if you can stay away from the pitch I can keep them occupied for at least five hours."

"I also need some ideas, in case Blaise doesn't propose himself. I need something like a ring to give him and show I care. Even if this is as sham Blaise, or whoever accepts me, is doing me a great favor, I should give him something to thank him."

Hermione was absolutely stuck on what would be an appropriate substitute for a fake engagement ring. Luckily Ginny had some ideas.

"Well guys usually go for the flowers, jewelry and chocolate. Since you are doing the guys part by proposing, perhaps you should continue the trend by presenting a stereotypically male present. George and Seamus would get a kick out it; I don't know Blaise enough to guess his reaction." Ginny suggested.

"Neither do I really, it's odd that he still got the most points when I don't really know anything about him." Hermione agreed.

"It is either totally flattering for him or totally embarrassing for the rest of the guys." Ginny laughed.

"I would say embarrassing but it probably isn't true. Blaise is just one of a kind." Hermione laughed as well, after a few minutes they both calmed down.

"Anything else I can help you with?" Ginny asked with a few giggles.

"You could suggest a quiet place for Blaise and I to talk. I try not to go into the forest during the morning, too easy to get caught." Hermione asked.

"You were impossible to find yesterday morning, can't you just bring him wherever you were then?" Ginny suggested.

"That place is my last resort, if won't tell you or the boys where it is, why would I bring some one else there?" Hermione asked.

"I can't picture Blaise turning you down. He is going to be a big part of your life, the fact that you are brining him to your most secret place is going to be a bigger symbol then a bunch of flowers and a box of chocolates." Ginny pointed out.

"How will he know it is my secret place?" Hermione asked.

"You tell him." Ginny said, her tone clearly showed Hermione what she thought of the question.

"I just go up to him and say; 'Hi Blaise, let's go up to my private retreat which I have never shown or described to any one in this entire world so I can propose to you and let this sham of a marriage have a romantic start.' That should go down well."

"Well I was thinking of just sliding it in the conversation but your way will work as well."

"I'm not so great at subtlety, I can hide the truth with the best of them and if I need to I can outright lie but I can't really slide something into the conversation so it seems natural." Hermione said.

"Hermione, I have known you for six years, I know how you handle conversations. If you simply don't think about it, it will come out naturally. Just wait in the Great Hall until breakfast is over and everyone leaves, Blaise will probably do the same. When the coast is clear go meet him, ask him to come with you and lead him to your secret place. It is obviously in an isolated area so Blaise will ask where you are going or where he is. Tell him that this is where you go to think and he will get the idea." Ginny explained.

Hermione thought about it, she could do that.

"Thanks Ginny, you really helped."

"I am happy to be of service. You should get to breakfast late so you have a reason to be there when it is almost empty. I'll tell everyone that you want to sleep in and are likely to be in hiding for most of the morning. The shock of finding out the government can completely ruin the lives of so many young witches has pushed you into hiding. You simply are not coping with the news Hermione, let alone coping well." Ginny said teasingly.

"Thanks again Ginny. I am sure I will be more noticeable on Monday. At least the Ministry had the decency to spring the news on a Saturday morning."

"Women around the Kingdom are in the same situation as you and a few women sit in the Wizengamot. They may not have been enough to outvote the law but they would try to limit the damage by giving a couple of days to absorb the information." Ginny explained.

"Their efforts, though small, are appreciated. Night Ginny." Hermione said.

"Good night Hermione. See you in the afternoon." Ginny replied.

Hermione slid out of the blankets and went to her bed. Tomorrow was going to be a harrowing day.

At the same time that Hermione was getting into her bed, Blaise was creeping towards the greenhouses. He knew at this time no one would catch him but Cassandra needed to practice her observation skills. He was ten feet away when Cassandra's whisper reached him.

"Good Morning Blaise."

"No code names tonight Cass?"

"How you manage to fool everyone in this castle when you have absolutely no respect for secrecy will always astound me Blaise. It seems that no one in the castle is aware of your upcoming nuptials but our Gryffindor agents noticed that Hermione Granger was M:I:A (Missing In Action) so I am betting my giant cookie on her. I would say congratulations but I think you are absolutely insane for going through with this. A member of the Golden Trio, Blaise, your animosity will be shot to hell if you go through with this."

"It's a betrothal Cassie, how many arranged marriages do you know of that gives you a choice?"

"Yours, you said probably and you are always strictly honest. If you had no choice you would of said you _were_ getting married in a month. Now what the hell are you thinking? How can you be considering this?" Cassandra was yelling as loud as she could and still be whispering.

"For a seraph you say the word hell a lot. Let's go up to the castle and make sure you stay warm." Blaise replied comfortingly.

"Blaise, talk, now!" Cassandra whispered.

"I have the details I found out here. I'll let you read them now if you come along up to the castle." Blaise offered.

"I am not a child Blaise, I am your 2nd in command and you can not patronize me."

Blaise sighed. "I am tired and worried about you. Can we just go to the castle and get warm. I will explain everything, you can help me decide what to do and we can work out how to do what we decide. Now do you want to read about the contract now or do you want to catch me up on our network?"

"Tell your mum what you found out and ask her to send you a copy of the entire contract. You can send me the main points tomorrow. I'll tell you more details about what our little ones have been doing for the past few months." Cassandra decided.

"Hermione and I have to tell Dumbledore our decision tomorrow at lunch so I told Hermione I would meet her after breakfast."

"You should have said an hour or so after breakfast, you should get at least five hours sleep when you can. Come on, let's get this meeting over with."

"Breakfast finishes at ten on a Sunday; I should get five and a half hours. I'm just tired because of the ramifications this law will have on our agents." Blaise argued.

"Come on Blaise, you were the one that wanted that wanted to go in the castle." Cassandra tugged his arm.

Three hours later Cassandra emerged from the castle. She took something from her pocket and disappeared.


	5. A Brief History of Blaise

I know this is terribly late. I had computer problems, as in lack of access to a computer. I also had a bad week despite finding out Alex Rider is becoming a movie (I hate living in Australia, it won't come here until next year) and gaining two excellent beta's. Thank you Un Petite Diable and Tzippi Meshugah. For some reason my fish is becoming suicidal, it's rather depressing.

Disclaimer: I own Cassandra, Daemon and Peony. Everything else belongs to some one else, see previous disclaimers to find out whom.

**A Brief History of Blaise**

_27th January, 1983_

Blaise Zabini was bored. He had looked forward to this party for most of the week, as it was the first time that he was allowed to attend an adult party. He was almost four and his friend, Draco Malfoy, had been going to parties since he was two. Draco was always bragging about the parties he went to when Blaise came over to play. He was a bully and would boss Blaise around, even though Blaise was five months older. Father said that he should be nice to Draco because Draco's father would hurt Draco sometimes so Draco was a friend even if he didn't like him.

At the moment Blaise wondered why Draco was so proud of going to parties anyway, they were boring. Whenever he walked up to someone to ask where his father was, the adults would either scowl at him or ask if he remembered them. Blaise felt like he was going to cry if some one else said: 'I remember when you were only a baby.' Until two years ago, he had still been considered a baby. In fact, he had been a baby for most of his life, though in a few weeks that would no longer be true.

Blaise decided to sit on one of the chairs and wait until he spotted his father. He looked for a place that was a bit away from everyone else. He did not want to meet any one new tonight. He saw a corner where only Draco's father and another were talking. They would ignore him so he decided to sit there. The only chairs there were rather close to Draco's father and his companion, but Blaise decided it would be alright.

Blaise crept closer and sat down. He turned his head away, but looked at the dark man. The dark man wore a lot of black. Blaise's father wore black too but he wore another color as well, even if it was just a bright tie. This man wore only black. He also had black hair but it wasn't shiny like Blaise's or his father's, it looked sticky, like his did when he was sick and couldn't take a shower. The dark man had a long nose and dark eyes. He seemed mean. Blaise closed his eyes and listened, swinging his legs even though it was rude.

"Dumbledore will notice straight away. He has close ties to the Weasley's and can tell whensomething is wrong. He may be a muggle loving fool, but he is still a powerful wizard. He can stop the spell from really taking hold." The dark man argued.

"If it is a potion he may not notice or he might ask you to brew an antidote. Surely you can make a small mistake. A small lapse in concentration could have deadly consequences."

"When have you ever known me to make a mistake in a potion?" The dark man was making fun of Draco's father. Didn't he know that you were always meant to be polite to your elders? "With the Dark Mark on my arm I would be thrown into Azkaban without trial. Even if I avoid Azkaban, I would lose the fool's trust and when the Dark Lord rises again, I will not be in a position to help him. If you want Arthur Weasley destroyed, you will have to do it yourself."

"Severus, surely you're not scared of Dumbledore?"

"Obviously you are since you aren't willing to do the work yourself."

Blaise heard the dark man walk away. He knew it was the dark man because he heard Draco's father say a bad word then walk away himself. Blaise kept his eyes closed and thought about what he heard. It sounded like Draco's father wanted to do something bad to a man called Arthur Weasley, and Severus wouldn't help him. Maybe Severus just looked mean but was really nice? Blaise heard more footsteps and opened his eyes. He saw his father sit next to him.

"Blaise, what have I told you about sitting still?" His father asked sternly but Blaise knew he wasn't upset. Blaise sighed anyway.

"When I sit down I should sit with my back straight, my legs still and my hands in my lap unless I need to do something specific with them. When I slouch or move about I show I am not interested and hurt the feelings of the people around me. But no one is around me and I have nothing to do."

"People can still see you Blaise, and it is still rude to display your boredom. Remember I did tell you that you would be bored but you insisted that you were old enough to attend parties. Luckily, I knew this would happen and opened the nursery for you and the other young people an hour ago. Play quietly."

"Father, who is the Dark Lord and what's Azabam?" Blaise asked. His father knew everything.

"The Dark Lord was a very bad wizard who died a few years ago and Azkaban is a prison where bad wizards and witches go. Why do you ask, where did you hear about them?"

"I heard Draco's father and another man talk about him. The dark man said he wouldn't brew a potion because he would go to Azabam and wouldn't be able to help the Dark Lord when he came back. I thought the dark man was nice because he wouldn't make the potion and hurt the other man. Was he really a bad wizard?"

"Tell me about him."

"He was smaller then Draco's father and was wearing all black. He had dark eyes and yucky hair and a long nose. I think that Draco's father called him Everuth."

"Ahh, Severus. No, he isn't a bad wizard Blaise. He sounds bad but he is only pretending. He might be one of your Professors when you go to Hogwarts in a few years. Blaise, will you tell me everything you heard Severus and Lucius talking about?"

Blaise closed his eyes and thought back.

The dark man was telling Draco's father that Bumblebore would notice if someone put a spell one Weathly. He said that Bumblebore was powerful and would stop the spell. Draco's father said they could give Weathly a potion and if Bumblebore noticed then the dark man could make a mistake when he was making the anidote. The dark man said he never makes mistakes when he makes potions and he would go to Asaban. He said that the old fool would stop trusting him and he wouldn't be able to help the Dark Lord. He said if Draco's father wanted to destroy Arthur Weathly he would have to do it himself. Draco's father said that the dark man was scared of Bumblebore and the dark man said that Draco's father was scared of Bumblebore since he didn't do it himself. Then the dark man left and Draco's father said a bad word and left."

"Okay Blaise, can you listen very carefully to me? Are you listening?"

Blaise nodded.

"You know that we have to be nice to everyone, even when they aren't nice to us?"

Blaise nodded again. That very annoying but his father said it was important.

"Sometimes those people will hurt us if we disagree with them or say something that they don't like. We can't always tell who the bad people are so it is important that we don't talk about some things until we know the people we are talking to very well. The Dark Lord is one of the things we don't talk about, or the people in Azkaban, or the dark mark or Death Eaters. What don't we talk about?"

"The Dark Lord or Asabam or the dark mark or Death Eaters. What is the dark mark and Death Eaters, that's a yucky name?"

"Death Eaters are people who follow the Dark Lord and the dark mark is the sign of the Dark Lord. The Dark Lord is also called Lord Voldemort or He Who Must Not Be Named so we don't talk about those words as well. So what don't we talk about?"

"The Dark Lord, Asabam, the dark mark, Death Eaters, Lord Voldemort or He Who Must Not Be Named. That's a lot of things."

"I know it is Blaise but it is very important so try really hard to remember. Come, I'll walk with you to the nursery. Remember to play quietly and be nice to every one. The party may be a while but you need to stay down here until mother comes to bring you to bed."

"Okay father, I'll try to be good. I'll remember not to talk about those things but why can't I talk about them and other people can?"

"Other people can be very silly but you are smart and not silly. You are being very helpful tonight Blaise so can you do something else for me? Can you listen and tell me when you hear other people talking about those things?"

"Yes father, I will remember everything and tell you about it all."

"Good boy Blaise. Let's go to the nursery."

_21st March, 1985_

Over the past two years Blaise had learned the most important lesson for a spy, though he had not realized that he was well on his way to becoming one. Blaise learned to move quietly and inconspicuously and to use his young innocence to charm anyone into talking to him. To Blaise it was a game, his father praised him when he told him what he had learnt that day, and it was fun to try not to be noticed and to trick adults when they did see him. Unfortunately, Blaise did not have access to charcoal and parchment, and he did not know most of the words yet, so he would forget what people were saying before he could tell his father. By the time he was five and a half, Blaise had learned what was important to his father and could memorize that. Shortly after, he had unintentionally trained his mind to remember the whole conversation.

The skills Blaise had acquired were not shown to his father. His father was an adult and it was fun to pretend and hide what you know from grown ups, it shows you're as clever as they are. Blaise never lied to his father and would tell him what was important about what he found out, but he stuttered and mispronounced words that he could say perfectly. He maintained his childish lisp, though he did soften it. Blaise's father knew that Blaise was good at spying and would ask him to look around at parties where his own movements would be curtailed. One of those parties was occurring tonight, at his eldest nephew's house.

Daemon was already twenty-five and was widowed within the first year of his marriage after his wife died in childbirth. The child had not survived and Daemon did not seem to care, as he had immediately remarried and now had a son three years old. This was why he was able to bring Blaise. While Daemon hated children and had never allowed his guests to bring the children to his manor, he now needed playmates for his son to make political connections with. Tonight would be the first night William ever saw another child.

In front of his house Zechariah was crouched in front of Blaise giving him instructions on how to behave that night.

"I want you to be on your best behavior Blaise. Your cousin Daemon has a temper and could hurt you if you upset him. Stay out of the way and listen to what people say, do you remember what words to listen for?"

"Yes father."

"William is like Draco, you should be especially nice to him."

"Yes father."

"Then let's go. Touch the portkey."

Blaise stretched forth his hand and was swept away, by now he was well used to portkey trouble. Despite barely being six, he was able to remain on his feet with perfect posture. He calmly took his father's hand and walked into the looming manor.

After shaking his cousin hands and being introduced to William, Blaise took William with him as he quickly circled the room, noting his usual sources of information. He knew that adults would talk more freely when they had drunk a lot of the yucky juice so he decided to remain out of the way by exploring the house. He looked around the enormous room, left William with the other children and slipped away from the ballroom.

The most useful information was hidden in bedrooms, dressing rooms and private studies. The most interesting information was hidden in the most out of the way, god forsaken places imaginable. Blaise decided to go for the interesting at the moment and retrieve the useful later. He turned down corridors and kept note of how excited the paintings were. If no one ever walked down the hall, the paintings always talked more. If there were no paintings, it was more likely that something important was hidden away. If every door you came across was locked there was definitely there, if you only looked.

The farther Blaise moved into the west wing of the manor, the more certain Blaise was that there was a secret. The painting talked and slowly stopped appearing on the walls. Every door was locked and it took longer for his natural magic to undo the wards. Blaise knew that his cousin Daemon was hiding a very interesting secret. Eventually he got to a single door blocking the way. He laid his hand on the door to unlock it.

It took almost a full minute to unlock the door and Blaise was feeling a bit weak as he felt the magic drain out of him. It there was any more locks to be opened he would have to wait until the next party to open the door. As it was, Daemon would know that some one had been here, as Blaise would not be able to relock all the doors he had left open. He finally felt the door knob loosen and opened the door.

After the blandness of the numerous corridors it was a shock to see bright colors though there were not many. He was in a medium sized room without windows or many tapestries on the walls. The room was terribly bare and seemed to be filled with miscellaneous items. On a rug in the middle of the room sat a small girl in thread bare clothes, she looked up when the door creaked open and instantly screamed, through no sound came up. Somehow the girl communicated anyway because an instant later a house elf appeared and pushed Blaise from the room. The door slammed shut and Blaise was not able to reopen it.

As Blaise was intensely curious and would not be missed for another hour he simply kept knocking at the door. After fifteen minutes, and a substantial amount of pain for a young child, a house elf popped up in front of Blaise.

"How is you being here? None is allowed to see Cassandra. Go away."

"I don't want to hurt her, I just want to meet her. Why isn't she at the party?" Blaise asked.

"Go away."

"Just let me talk to her. I do not have a wand, I won't come close. You can push me away if I upset her. Please let me talk to her." Blaise summoned every bit of charm and innocence he possessed and the elf relented.

Blaise followed the elf back into the room. The girl looked up but seemed calmer since the house elf was there. She offered Blaise a ball she had begun to play with. Blaise sat about five feet away and smiled but shook his head.

"I'm sorry but I promised not to come too close. We can roll it to each other if you want." Blaise said in a happy voice.

The girl smiled and shook her head; she dropped the ball and looked around for a different toy. Blaise suspected that something was wrong with her; he had never met some one so quiet, most children were happy to talk to each other given that they weren't allowed to talk to adults. He decided to just ask simple questions.

"My name is Blaise, what's your name?"

"Mistress Cassandra does not speak." The house elf said. She was studying Blaise like he was extremely odd.

"I am sorry to hear that Cassandra, you seem very nice." Blaise smiled at Cassandra then turned his head to look at the elf. "Can I pick up the ball and play with her?"

The elf levitated the ball to Blaise. He picked it from the air and rolled it to the girl.

"Cassandra, do you want to roll it back?"

Cassandra simply looked confused. The house elf levitated it back to Blaise. They repeated the actions until Cassandra grabbed the ball and rolled it to Blaise herself. A few minutes after that Blaise stood up, Cassandra looked confused.

"I should go now, can I ask your master if I can come and play again later?" Blaise asked the house elf.

"No one is to be knowing Mistress Cassandra is here. Master does not wish for people to be knowing about Mistress Cassandra."

"Cassandra should have friends. My father said that I should always be nice to people because they do not have any other friends and everyone should have at least one friend. Cassandra is nice. She should have a lot of friends." Blaise said.

"Master is saying no one should be here." The house elf objected.

"Does Cassandra go to school? All children should go to school." Blaise asked.

"Cassandra is not to be seen. She is to be kept alone. Master is saying so." The house elf whispered.

"You let me see her." Blaise said.

"The mistress said to care for Cassandra, to make her happy. Cassandra needs friends to be happy. Peony knew Blaise was good and would make Cassandra happy. But master will be angry but Peony is foremost the mistresses elf and she gave Peony orders first."

"To be happy Cassandra needs a friend. Can you bring Cassandra to my manor to play after school each day for a few hours?" Blaise asked.

"The master does not see Cassandra, I can bring her." The house elf cautiously agreed.

"Thank you. I will be at the pond about four thirty tomorrow. I look forward to seeing you again Cassandra and Peony." Blaise said happily waving to Cassandra and the house elf.

He went back to the party just as his father came looking for him. Seeing Blaise, his father hurried over and knelt to Blaise's level, holding his shoulders.

"Where have you been Blaise? William has been looking for you. His father is quite upset with your inattention." Zechariah scolded.

"I was making a new friend father. I wanted to stay out of the way so I would not be causing trouble, then I lost track of time."

"You must be careful Blaise. These people can hurt you."

"I will father, I'm sorry." Blaise leaned forward to hug his father and kissed him on the cheek. It always worked when his father was upset.

"Come Blaise. We should go."

_6th July, 1988 _

Blaise had learned a lot over the past three and a quarter years. Attending a muggle school gave a lot of opportunities that other young witches and wizards went without. He could actually function in the muggle world, had a firm grasp on English literature, mathematics, basic science and research techniques and he had access to the multitude of children's books that muggle authors had published. While there were wizarding authors around the world, they were mostly academic. Children's rhymes and stories were an oral tradition.

It was through this love of fiction that Blaise found out what he had turned into over the past five years and what he had converted Cassandra into over the past two years. He borrowed the book from the library and showed it to Cassandra, she also noticed the similarities and wrote about it on the board.

'Other then the life threatening scenarios and boot camp you're rather similar. You have similar looks, almost the same training and you're from the same country. Be careful, if your parents die when you're 14 and if the ministry asks you to come to a meeting, refuse to go.' Cassandra wrote. 'I hope you weren't doing the same, though I didn't get the benefit of learning new languages.'

Blaise laughed. "I taught you to write English and it was a shock when the servants suddenly started speaking French every Saturday and Spanish every Sunday. Most wizards just use translating charms. And no, I didn't purposely turn you into a spy. I thought it was a fun game. Karate and kenpo were just exercise and I taught you the other school subjects because everyone deserves the chance to learn. Too bad I didn't get the chance to teach you to dive or snowboard, it's a lot of fun. Your father is a bastard, he had no right to keep you locked up for something you can't control."

'You know, I could probably devise a device that works like a translating charm which would simulate speech. My form of magic is just as strong as traditional magic. If I try, I am certain I can get it to work.' Cassandra wrote, her eyes clouding over in thought.

"I still don't understand how a guy who knew nothing about science could manage to create something that analyzes the amount of 'traditional magic' in blood, but his luck doesn't extend far enough to catch all forms of magic. Normally when it comes to a lucky break it's a matter of all or nothing." Blaise complained to the sky. He seriously hated Daemon Zabini for what he had done to his daughter.

Cassandra kicked Blaise as best as she could when they were both sitting next to each other on the ground. He rubbed his ankle and looked to see what Cassandra was writing.

'Hush, I'm thinking. It's almost time for your riding lesson and my father normally checks if I'm alive tonight so I want this afternoon to think.' Her irritation showed in her writing.

"Well I hope all goes well. I'm off, see you tomorrow, we'll go over History, both muggle and wizarding, as well as math." Blaise told her.

Cassandra just waved her hand in dismissal and Blaise went off.

_One fortnight later_

Blaise and Cassandra were again sitting under a tree next to the lake. Cassandra was writing quickly in a notebook and Blaise was venting.

"I can almost understand why most nine years olds don't read the paper, the stupidity of most adults is astounding. They are meant to be role models for children and they set this kind of example! Theresa Hopkins has a nine year old daughter, like us, and she goes on about how goblins are a genetically inferior race and should not be trusted with our gold! Is she trying to teach Emily that wizards are better then everyone and we have the right to act like we are? If kids actually act like the adults that are teaching them we're facing the next world war within our lifetime."

Cassandra sighed and punched Blaise on the arm, he looked at her.

"If it is not right for men to hit women, it is not right to women to hit men." Blaise complained.

Cassandra just shoved her communication notebook at him then kept writing in her other book. Blaise read what she had written.

'Don't complain unless you are willing to do something about it. The government uses blackmail so it is an accepted practice, talk to the daughter and find out a way to control the mother. If you don't trust the adults to look after the world then take over a little early. Just warn me if you start to build a secret base in a mountain in preparation for world domination.'

Blaise laughed. "Don't worry, when I become evil overlord you will be there by my side. We'll have code names and everything."

Cassandra grabbed the book, wrote on it and shoved it back. She was in an exceptionally bad mood.

'I'm on the edge of a breakthrough. Shut up or get lost!'

"Fine, give me a notebook." Blaise sighed.

Cassandra took one from her bag and gave it to Blaise with a few pens. Blaise opened it and wrote as a title page: Cherub. Blaise wasn't certain if Cassandra was joking but he was certain that her idea would work. He also thought he could convince some teenagers to join him. There were a lot of books to give him some ideas for how to set the network up and in three years when he was to begin Hogwarts, he would have set it all up, trained some people to ensure they were up to standard, then he could hide in Hogwarts and have plausible deniability if it all came crashing down. And really, who would expect a nine year to set up a functioning spy network? If anyone else, except Cassandra of course, had attempted it, they would have given up within a month if they even managed that long. Even in the books, the head of the organization was an adult sitting safely on the sidelines.

_30th August, 1991_

Over the last three years many things had changed. The process for the spy network was mapped out, implemented and refined. Cassandra made a device which enabled her to speak and many more devices to help the network. The name 'Cherub' was scrapped and replaced with 'Incognito'. Codenames were given out, Blaise was 'Serpentine' and Cassandra was 'Seraph'. While the entire process was a lot more difficult, than Blaise had anticipated, with hard work and a small dip in his grades _Incognito_ was an unofficial organization.

Blaise and Cassandra were sitting in their usual spot under a tree, getting ready for Blaise's departure for Hogwarts.

"I can't believe that you set all this up and are leaving me to deal with it all." Cassandra complained.

"I will still be helping. I can search for agents at school, set up tasks, make sure we aren't being fed a load of B.S. Harry Potter starts Hogwarts this year; he will be one of the most influential figures in wizarding history, it would be good to have an accurate idea of what he's like. I think it's good that I will be there myself to get the information." Blaise defended himself.

"I don't want you to leave me. If you go everything could change back like it was before." Cassandra said softly.

Blaise reached over to give her a hug.

"I will write to you in the books every night. We can talk like that, I'll send you copies of my homework. It will be like a friendship by correspondence." Blaise laughed. "Nothing will change, Seraph, nothing could ever split us apart."

"Unless the Ministry finds out about my affiliation with Incognito and I go to Azkaban to be tortured so they find out who is in charge and you stay at Hogwarts getting copies of the reports the agents normally send me." Cassandra pointed out.

"They will never find out about you. Your father, bastard that he is, ensured that everyone in the wizarding world believes you to be dead for years now. The wizarding world ensures that every one in the muggle world does not believe you to have ever existed. And you can't imprison someone who is dead or who was never alive." Blaise reassured her.

"As long as I have a physical body they can capture me." Cassandra disagreed.

"If you get captured I will be there in a hour to break you out. But you're an angel, Cass. They would never be able to capture you. Still, if it makes you feel better, make me a fingerprint activated portkey to come to you." Blaise suggested.

"If it makes me feel better? You never objected to my gifts before Blaise. You want to leave me, don't you?" Cassandra said as she turned away from him.

"I always love everything you give me Cass. You're my favorite relative, the only person I have now that I can stand to be around for more then an hour. Will you please make me a portkey?" Blaise begged.

"Sure Blaise. I'll have it for you before you leave for the station."

"Thank you Seraph. Love you." Blaise said as he got ready to leave.

"Love you too Blaise." Cassandra replied.

Blaise kissed her hand then gave her a small hug and went up to his manor. Cassandra sighed as she watched him go, then took a small portkey from her pocket and went back to her own room.


	6. The next morning

I know it has been a while but my beta had some trouble with g-mail and I had some family and life situations. I don't know how my mother could possible skip the baptism of her first grandchild, particularly when she actually reads and remembers passages of the bible. Once I finally received both edited chapters and had time to combine them locked me out.

Both betas pointed out my use of electronics; however I did write that electronics work in the very first chapter. JKR has written that watches work in the wizarding world, after all Harry's got crushed in OoTP. Why should one piece of modern technology worl and not others? The satellite things I put in the first chapter are theoretically possible but not economically feasible for commercial use, just thought I'd throw that fact in.

I have too many pop culture references in this chapter because I have been reading Gilmore Girls fanfiction and just got another of their box sets. Therefore I only own Cassandra, Jet and Ebony.

Thanks to my beta's: Un Petite Diable and Tzippi Meshugah. Any mistakes are mine and not theirs.

I have already written the first here pages of the next chapter but I am starting school again next week so it may be a while till I finish. I will try to be quicker but I really can't control the internet, however much I wish I could. Enjoy.

**The next morning**

Hermione's stomach was heavy with dread when she woke up on Sunday morning. She was instantly alert, which was a significant feat as it six o'clock and she had only fallen asleep at two. The early awakening had a 'Titanic' effect on the plan to feign sleep until the end of breakfast. Hermione could lie still for an hour, she might even manage two, but three and a half hours of laziness was simply not possible for such an active person. A new plan was needed, desperately.

Twenty minutes later Hermione was showered, dressed and prepared as mush as she could be for what she knew of the day. She was confident that she could be seen as calm and self controlled, by the few people at breakfast. They would pass the information along when asked. She could hide in the library and begin researching wizarding law under an invisibility charm, then slip down to meet Blaise at the end of breakfast as agreed. She could propose, he would hopefully accept and they could plan the details until it was time to meet Dumbledore who would arrange everything. After that, the world as she knew it would crumble and she would begin to hear mocking laughter in the back of her mind as she slipped into insanity. It was nice to have things neatly planned.

"Carefully on tiptoe stealing/ Breathing gently as we may..." Hermione sang softly as she crept to the Great Hall. The characters got caught at the end of the song but the simple act of singing, however quietly, helped to calm Hermione. She made it to the hall without bumping into anyone, despite the amount of times she sang the lines anyway. Stopping in a small niche next to the Great Hall, Hermione turned on her discman, set the volume to a suitable background level and put on her flesh toned earphones. Now prepared for breakfast, she entered the Hall.

Waving imperceptibly to the people who had looked up to see her entrance, Hermione placed a small smile on her face and walked to her normal place at the Gryffindor table. She gathered her regular breakfast, quickly drank a glass of orange juice to maintain the façade of waking up and got out a notebook and pencil to start planning her legal research. Half an hour later Hermione was absorbed in her work, the last of her breakfast forlornly waiting to be eaten. She was therefore startled when someone sat next to her and started to read over her shoulder. Jumping slightly, Hermione tried to tug out her earphones without the intruder noticing. She was unsuccessful, of course, though she was not aware of that fact.

"Geeze Blaise, you scared me. And didn't that fancy school of yours teach you not to read over other people's shoulders?" She complained.

"Actually no, the common courtesies were left completely off the curriculum. The charm schools I was enrolled in when I was four focused on bowing, table manners and other 'high society' matters and none of the extra-curricular classes I was forced to attend really had any lessons on standard manners. I am well aware of the intricacies involved in challenging someone to a fight-to-the-death duel with a rather lot of weapons."

Hermione laughed. "I'm sure that will come in handy someday. May I ask why you were prompted to startle me half to death and sic the rumor mill on us so very early in the morning?"

"It's just past seven, therefore it is not early. The Great Hall is actually starting to fill up. Granted, most of the students are still half asleep and wishing death and eternal torture upon those poor souls who decided coffee is not an appropriate drink for school students, but they are still awake and down here." Blaise answered with a smile.

"You avoided that question rather well. Now would you please assist in the noble nature of this great school and enlighten me about why you interrupted my writing and why you are talking to me in public?" Hermione asked.

"Why don't we discuss it in the library? It seems like a more appropriate place to do planning and research, and a dining hall doesn't seem like a good place to have our discussion." Blaise suggested.

"We were meant to have our discussion after breakfast, not an hour into it." Hermione retorted.

"We have both finished eating; I count that as after breakfast. I suppose it could wait if you wanted to talk with your friends first, I just thought it would be a bit hard to lose them after the scene yesterday."

"I arranged a distraction with Ginny, by the time they start looking for me we will be well hidden." Hermione said a bit absently. "I suppose we could go now but I was thinking of somewhere other then the library. Meet me next to the main staircase. I just want to leave a note for Ginny."

"Yes ma'am." Blaise whispered in her ear. He stood up with a small smile and left.

Hermione helped herself to another glass of juice as she penned a quick note to Ginny.

'Had to get up early so went to breakfast. Blaise was here too so we are meeting early. We were probably seen together (the idiot) so try to squash any rumors. Thanks forever.

With her note finished Hermione looked around for a student who she could trust and would know Ginny. She spotted Luna sitting alone at the Ravenclaw table and asked her to pass the note on to Ginny without telling Ginny who it was from. Mission completed, she went to collect Blaise and start the chaos which would dominate the rest of the year.

Blaise was confused. He had, indeed, expected to head to the more deserted areas of the castle, but the stairs were almost rusted despite the house elves care, which would indicate an extremely low level of use. They had been wandering the hallways for almost an hour and Hermione did not seem to actually care where they were going.

"Where are you going and what do you wish?" Blaise murmured softly. The poem had suddenly come to mind.

"We have come to fish for the herring fish/ that live in this beautiful sea." Hermione replied almost as softly.

"You know it?" Blaise asked curiously.

"I loved that poem; I used it as the focus for my last Art project at school. I drew the shoe coming down to an old Scottish town house with the moon smiling in the corner and a small boy peering out of the window in a house opposite the main house. The stars were in constellations shaped as fish and there was a faint impression of the nets coming down on the fish. I wrote that third verse out as the border with the most ornamental letters I could master, I practiced the alphabet for hours to try to get it perfect then practiced the verse itself for a few more hours and finally practiced writing the verse as a border so it curved in the corners and words were properly formed even when they were backwards and upside at the bottom." Hermione's voice was dreamlike and she was obviously lost in her memory.

Blaise began to recite the verse and after a second Hermione joined in.

"All night long their nets they threw/ To the stars in the twinkling foam / Then down from the skies came the wooden shoe/ Bringing the fishermen home;/ 'Twas all so pretty a sail it seemed/ As if it could not be/ And some folks thought 'twas a dream they'd dreamed/ Of sailing that beautiful sea / But I shall name you the fishermen three/ Wynken/ Blynken/ And Nod."

"It's a beautiful verse, though not the most popular, most chose to draw the second." Blaise said.

"I prefer the homecoming of something so beautiful and perfect that you wonder if it is a dream. I also researched the art inspired by the poem and was worried I would subconsciously copy some elements. The angle I needed to capture the town and moon with the shoe perfectly midway ensured I didn't accidentally plagiarize." Hermione explained.

"It sounds like a excellent piece. What happened with it?" Blaise asked.

"I submitted it and got an 'A'. The teacher put it on display in the Art block and it was featured on the website. Then I asked for it back and brought it home during the holidays. My mother and father put the picture on our Christmas cards and I got the original framed and hung it in my room. I tried to draw similar scenes with the other verses but I could never recapture the mood. Finishing that piece became a way to relieve stress, it wasn't a major assessment or test. It was a release from the stress of the other classes."

"Didn't you have friends to blow of steam with?"

"I had a few but I'm more comfortable alone. I had a cousin I was really close too and I would call him when I got really stressed. We had a massive fight just before I started Hogwarts because I told him I couldn't call or email him after I started school. He didn't understand why I couldn't just use the school computers or smuggle my laptop in. We made up after my third year but we aren't as close anymore. What about you? Did you have any close friends before Hogwarts?" Hermione asked.

"I have one close friend, her name is Cassandra. I met her at a party when I was six and saw her almost every day since then. Her mother died the day Cassie was born and her father almost locked her up. Her nanny would sneak her out to see me and I would teach her what I learnt at school and in my extra lessons. My etiquette instructor almost quit when I insisted on learning how to curtsy. What is your cousin's name? You didn't tell me."

"His name is Jet, for some reason a lot of my relatives from this generation have odd names." Hermione replied. "You know how to curtsy? Could I have a demonstration?"

"I will curtsy when you answer my original question, where are we going?" Blaise said.

"And what do I wish? Technically you didn't ask, you quoted and I am not sure that you intended me to hear said quotes. Never the less, I will answer. We are going to my primary hiding place. I am no longer allowed to go here without company and it hasn't been discovered in the four and a bit years that I have been hiding there so I doubt that today will be the day." Hermione became a bit somber. "I haven't shown anywhere the way here before. Ginny is the closest friend I have now and she doesn't even know what wing or floor I'm in."

Blaise understood the implication. He curtsied to fulfilled the promised and show his gratefulness for the answer.

"Thank you for trusting me with it." He said.

"We need to hide and with all the help you have given me this weekend you have the right to know about it." Hermione replied.

She opened a door and led Blaise through the room to the window, which she proceeded to climb through. Blaise followed her through and, after seeing Hermione wiggle to make herself comfortable on the roof, he sat and did the same. They sat quietly and looked at the view for a minute. Blaise broke the silence.

"You wouldn't happen to have sunglasses would you?"

"No I do not." Hermione answered. She looked around as if judging angles then searched for something in her pocket. She pulled out a galleon. "Wingardium Leviosa."

The coin floated a few feet in front of Blaise at the precise angle needed to block the sun from his eyes. Blaise looked at Hermione slightly impressed. She had put her wand way and the galleon continued to float.

"Happy?" Hermione asked obviously sarcastic.

"Very." Blaise answered in a similar tone.

They were interrupted by an incoming owl, signaling that it must be time for the morning mail. Hermione held out an arm for the owl to perch on, stroked it once it had landed, and crooned to it.

"Hello Ebony. You must have a very important letter for mum and dad to send you so early when they probably know I will be talking to them tonight."

The owl hooted and Hermione retrieved the envelope.

"Very odd indeed, Off you go then, to the owlery if you please. I may need to send a reply tonight." Hermione instructed the bird.

Ebony walked up Hermione's arm and preened her hair for a minute before it flew off.

"That bird obviously loves you." Blaise commented.

"Most animals are somewhat attracted to me. Jet called me 'Disney's Princess' when two presumably wild blue birds actually landed on my hand when I reached out to pluck a rose. I didn't even get to enjoy the wonder of the moment, they flew off almost instantly when he started laughing so hard he chocked."

Blaise actually had to concentrate on maintaining his facial expression. He wanted to look serious for his question.

"Do they come to the outer branches of the trees to listen to you sing then try to sing along?"

Hermione grinned inside as she replied in a serious tone.

"One bird did once; the poor little thing just couldn't compete. I sung higher and higher, the bird was trembling with the effort and then he just went poof." Hermione made the explosion gesture with her hands. "Its brother saw what happened and got made. He pooped on my head and spread the word. All the birds in the area avoided me for months, screaming as they flew away. I got quiet a headache from the screeching and the cawing and laughing my head off.."

"Well, losing your head would likely cause it to ache. I never really got the time to mess about like that, playing about outside, it took a year to convince my dad I could do my homework outside just as easily as I could inside."

"You were never able to just play?" Hermione asked.

Boarding school had caused problems in her family, she would never connect with her family but the teachers were trained to ensure the students never overextended themselves. Not that it had ever really been a problem in the lower school.

"You have absolutely no concept of the sort of timetable I had to keep at home. I had to sneak out at night to spend any significant amount of time with Cassandra, I got an hour here or there in the afternoon and when I was smaller I got a whole three hours at night to spend playing games with my nanny but once I turned six and began a formal muggle education, my father judged me ready for a full time education.

I began getting ready for school at seven, school started at eight-thirty and ended at three. Over the years I also learnt horse riding, swimming, various forms of martial arts including fencing and other blades, archery, dancing, etiquette, painting and music and that's just the muggle lessons. I had broom riding lessons, writing with a quill, wizarding history, photography, basic potions and basic charms. During so called 'holidays' I would learn to sail and surf and ski and snow board. I learnt to scuba dive with muggle technology and the bubblehead charm. I didn't have time to simply play; it was only once I got to Hogwarts that I got time to relax. The only lessons my father forced on me were how to drive a car and motorbike once I was of legal age."

"That was harsh. You had a really hard life. I am sorry for any insensitive comments." Hermione apologized.

"It wasn't so bad, Cassandra had a worse time. Are you going to read what your parents sent you? I was under the impression that it might be serious." Blaise asked. He had said too much and wanted Hermione distracted.

"What happened to Cassandra?" Hermione asked him. She wouldn't allow herself to be distracted.

"That is for Cassandra to share if you ever meet her. Please read your letter. It might have something to do with our situation."

"Fine." Hermione pouted and pulled out the letter. She started to read it aloud.

"Darling, we saw the ring just before we went to bed and I decided to send it right away so you can give it to Blaise when you are ready. We are sure you made the right decision; Zechariah would have raised Blaise right. I know you both will be happy together. Try not to be stringent in fulfilling the terms of the agreement, pregnancy can take your attention away from your studies and Blaise will be doing enough of that. It will likely be best that you have simply the bare minimum required for a legal wedding at the moment but once school is out of the way we can all get together to plan the real things. Congratulations sweet thing. Love always. Mum."

Hermione tipped the envelope upside down and a plain gold ring fell out. It was a bit wide, obviously meant for a male.

"I guess this is for you." Hermione said trying to give Blaise the ring. At least she didn't have to worry about a proper proposal anymore.

"Keep it for now. If your parents flower did turn into a ring my parent's own would have done the same. They will have checked by tonight and will send yours to me. We should exchange rings at the same time."

"It seems more real now. Every hour the whole situation becomes more real while I am wishing with all my heart that it becomes less real and eventually fades away."

"Sorry Cinderella. We have about four hours before we go to lunch then meet Professor Dumbledore. We should start planning what we want to happen and the best ways of ensuring that it all works out."

Hermione put the ring back into the envelope and folded it to make sure it wouldn't fall out.

"I guess we should. First off, I keep my name and I you keep yours. Mrs. Zabini or Granger Zabini will confuse me and keep the attention on us for a lot longer…"

Blaise and Hermione made sure they were comfortable as they began to make their plans for the next few years of their lives.


	7. Dumbledore's office

I know that I am absolutely crap at updating lately and while I have excuses I will not air them. One of my beta's seems to be MIA and my workload has greatly increased (I put everything in my PDA and apparently in order to pass my course I need to resign myself to only 2 free days in August, 2 free days in September and running myself rugged in October. I am also meant to working on five assessment on the same evening, like that's really going to happen,) so I thought I would put this out early and resume my work again. When my other beta is done I will probably repost this.

Disclaimer: I do not own these puppets, I merely control the strings on which they dance. (That has been the welcoming note on my PDA for months. Lately I finally receive the edited version of the chapter at one in the morning, quickly combine the edits and add the first authors note my sleep deprived brain can think of.)

**Dumbledore's Office**

It was one o'clock when Hermione and Blaise were stepping onto the stairs to the Headmaster's office, having just finished gasping the password as a result of their quick run to the more frequented parts of the castle followed by a brisk walk to the aforementioned office. Despite the early start of their meeting, Blaise and Hermione had still not managed to get through all the details they had planned to address with the headmaster. Hermione placed the blame for the delay squarely on Blaise, whom she believed was the instigator of all the arguments, tangents and completely off-topic comments that had prolonged their discussion. It was one of the benefits of grief, the after effects allowed you to get away with everything in your mind.

The entire day following breakfast seemed to be focused on making sure that Hermione could not forget that her life was thoroughly screwed up. She was thrown together with Blaise, a person she would barely have noticed had it not been for these circumstances, and they were discussing the details of their engagement, wedding and life thereafter. She was on the way to a meeting with the headmaster who would be working with them to implement said ideas, and she still just wanted to forget about it all. Every time Hermione thought that she was beginning to handle the situation, something would happen to make her fumble and lose her grip on everything. Something like the ring that now adorned her finger.

"If you keep twisting that, you're going to bruise yourself. I'd also be careful of friction." Blaise commented.

"You have been attending this school for six years now and before yesterday I have not heard you say anything more then the absolute minimum in class. No talking to other students including your fellow Slytherins. No answering the Professor's questions. Heck you don't even repeat the incantations after you master them unless specifically asked by the professor. It was like you were afraid that someone would take a voiceprint. Why are you suddenly feeling the need to comment on every action and reply to every sentence I say, even when it is not directed to you?" Hermione complained.

"You sound exactly like my counselor from Horizon. Are you about to tell me that I need to exert myself more and that Hogwarts assesses my socialization as well as my academics?" Blaise retorted.

"Do you think that Professor Dumbledore would give me a salary if I told him about your endorsement of my guidance counselor skills?" Hermione asked.

"I think you would need professional training to be able to earn a salary, but you might want to consider broaching the idea of supervised peer counseling program to Professor Dumbledore. Some students do feel more comfortable talking to peers rather then adults. And why are you allowed to make glib remarks and I am not?" Blaise replied.

"Because I am not the one who has been referring to you by several variations of a hated nickname and making comments about everything for the past six hours. We missed lunch Blaise, and I am starving and blaming you. It was your comments that doubled the time of our three hours meeting."

"I merely responded to your comments so you are at least as much to blame as I am. I am getting tired of you blaming me for everything when I am actually trying to help you out of a bad situation. If you actually want that help I would suggest you try growing up!"

"Why are you doing this to me? How could you have changed so much in such a short period of time?" she asked.

"What makes you think I have changed? I may always have been like this and just not shown it to you. If I was such a quiet person why did I have girls coming to me to ask for advice or comfort yesterday? The only change I have made is that I am talking to you. A person I have spent a lot of time with lately, and will continue to spend a lot time with for the foreseeable future," he pointed out.

"You are babbling." Hermione said with a small frown.

"Will you just get a grip! This is tough on you, I get it and I'm trying to make it easier for you, but you have got to realise that the world does not revolve around you and everyone can not go out of their way to make it right, even if they did happen to have that ability. I don't want to get married. I'm 18 and still in school, but if my cousin had been born a witch she would be in this situation and I would hate for her to have to handle it. I know many other girls whom are in the same situation as you, and I can't help them because I am stuck here. I have spent years of time and effort that could now be wasted because of this law.

"There are recent widows mourning the loss of their husbands to the second rising who have to remarry possibly complete strangers because they failed to produce a child. There are witches and wizards that are betrothed to supporters of Voldemort who avoided Azkaban. Some are the children of Aurors who fought against Voldemort and didn't know the allegiance of the family they were betrothing their child to. There is an extremely high possibility that some of those marriages will be deadly, plagued with accidents that were impossible to foresee.

"You have escaped all that and are still being ungrateful and frankly a petty bitch about it. Is marrying me so easily comparable to marrying a man you can be certain will try to arrange for many fatal accidents to befall you. Or is that you simply don't understand your true circumstances? Do you not realise that you just have to marry me, have sex the day before our divorce and then, unlike countless others, we will be free of the whole situation. We can avoid each other for the rest of our lives unless we fall into the category of 'it was just one time' and we manage to produce a child. A hell of a lot of witches and likely quiet a few wizards would love to switch places with you, so please, just get over it or deal with it as quickly and quietly as possible!"

The pair were interrupted by the door to the office opening, neither had been aware that they had been standing in front of the door for a while.

"I gather that you have decided to agree to the betrothal and wed each other." Professor Dumbledore stated.

"Yes we have Professor Dumbledore. Now we are just trying to work out how to do so." Hermione answered quietly. It was clear that Blaise's words had finally gotten through and shaken her.

"You are happy to do this for her Blaise?" The headmaster asked.

"I am always happy to help when I can Professor." Blaise replied.

"Then let us get started. You would like a muggle ceremony would you not?"

"Yes sir. We both feel that would be easier for all concerned." Blaise answered.

"As you are circumventing the true purpose of this law, it is necessary that we follow the muggle legalities for marriage to the letter, as I believe the saying goes. That being the case I do not believe it would be proper for me to arrange the marriage. Tomorrow you will be given a portkey to a park in Greenwich near the registry office so you can give notice of your intention to marry. I took the liberty of procuring some muggle money to cover the cost, if you could keep of it Miss Granger." Professor Dumbledore gave Hermione an envelope, which she tucked into her robes. "Arrange for the ceremony to take place as soon as possible. It is the 2nd of November today, so the 19th of November would be ideal."

"Can't we wait until the end of the month to perform the ceremony? The notice is valid for an entire year. Surely waiting an extra few days won't hurt." Hermione objected.

"I feel that the ministry may be rather unhappy with the unsuitability of a muggle ceremony. The sooner you are married the longer we have to prove its validity, whilst having the chance to perform a wizarding ceremony if necessary. Now, you may need to provide proof of identity so I have sent Professor Sinistra to collect your passports. I believe that you both traveled via muggle transport when you were younger so you do own a passport?"

"Yes Professor." They both answered.

"You also need to provide evidence of your address, so here are some envelopes addressed to your homes which should be sufficient. When you are finished at the registry, tap the portkey with your wand, and it will take you back to Hogsmeade. We will meet tomorrow at seven to discuss how everything went. Do you have any questions?" Professor Dumbledore asked.

"How do we explain where we were after we get back tomorrow?" Hermione asked.

"You will have to tell the truth Miss Granger. You are not doing anything wrong, quite the contrary really; you are doing your best to obey the law. It would be hard for you to hide something of this magnitude and it sends the wrong message to Mr. Zabini who is doing something of great worth to help you. I would suggest that you explain your absence for next few days to your friends tonight. It would be a nice gesture of thankfulness to your fiancé."

"I suppose you're right and I don't mean to sound ungrateful. Blaise I really am thankful for all the help you have been giving me. You may want to be ready to run tonight at dinner though. The boys can be a bit unreasonable."

"I will keep that in mind. Are we done Professor?" Blaise asked.

"Go get ready for dinner children. Get acquainted with each other. And Blaise, this arrived to me just before you and Miss Granger entered. I believe your father missed the morning post so it was redirected to me." Professor Dumbledore answered while taking an envelope from his desk and holding it out to Blaise.

Blaise took the envelope without looking at it. He was certain he knew what was in it.

"Thank you Professor, I am sure we shall see you at dinner."

"Yes, I am sure we will. Now run along children." Professor Dumbledore answered, dismissing them from the office.

Blaise and Hermione went back to the roof to wait for dinner in privacy. Once they got settled, Blaise opened the envelope.

"Is it the ring?" Hermione asked.

Blaise just nodded and tipped out the ring. He placed it in his pocket and took out the accompanying letter to read aloud to Hermione.

'Blaise, I am certain by now that you have heard about your betrothal to Miss Granger. I filed the contract with Professor Dumbledore so I am also certain that you know the details of this betrothal. I would give you advice about making your choice but the presence of this ring means that you have made your decision and I just want to say that I completely approve of it. I know it seems harsh that we kept you completely unaware and unprepared for this moment, but I raised you to be ready for anything that gets thrown at you so I am sure that you handled yourself well.

_You have never mentioned Miss Granger while you were at home so you likely don't know her well That makes me all the more prouder of you because it shows your compassion and kindness to strangers. Continue to do right by Miss Granger and give her my regards to pass on to her parents. Bring her home with you for Christmas so we can meet her personally. _

_A proper wedding present will likely be out of place while you are both at school, so we will instead finance your honeymoon for when you graduate. Discuss the matter with Miss Granger and let me know where you decide to go. I will make all the necessary arrangements.'_

"Well anywhere you would like to go?" Blaise asked her when he had finished reading. "I keep hearing good things about the southern France."

"My parents send me all over Europe during the holidays. As long as we are getting a free holiday out of it, we may as well go somewhere new. Is there anywhere else you would like to go?"

"Well, I was also thinking about Egypt. It's not as romantic but still interesting. We could tour the pyramids and sail down the Nile." He suggested.

"Sounds good, how long do you think we should spend there?" she asked.

"I'm not sure yet. We can decide after we get used to each other. Next matter, since we are telling everyone tonight, do you want to exchange the rings now?"

"Well I don't think that suddenly announcing that I am getting married would go over well. Waving the ring under their nose just might be better." Hermione took the ring from her finger while Blaise took his ring from his pocket.

"Blaise Zabini, will you marry me?" Hermione asked, grabbing his hand and sliding the ring on his finger.

"Of course I will, Hermione Granger will you marry me? He asked repeating the gesture.

"I am very happy to marry you. Is there any thing else to be done?"

"There's a multitude of things to decide. Let's get back to those."

Hermione sighed and they began to work out more of the details.


	8. Confrontation

**Disclaimers: **This was written while I was reading Gilmore Girls fanfiction so there's a bunch of pop culture references. Ariel is from 'The Little Mermaid', The Little Mermaid' 'Cinderella and Snow White is all Disney. Odette I believe is from Swan Lake which I believe has been adapted for Disney. A Midsummers Night Dream is Shakespeare and Cassie Merteuil is from Cruel Intentions 3. If you are reading this you should know which characters are from the Harry Potters series and that I do not own them.

I offer no excuses for how long you have been waiting for this chapter and merely hope the length will appease you.

**Confrontation**

Hermione couldn't stop looking at her engagement/ wedding ring. It looked almost exactly like the ring she had given to Blaise, except that hers was slimmer and more streamlined. Despite the physical similarities, her engagement ring felt completely different to the ring she had given to him. The last ring felt cold on her finger, while this one felt abnormally warm. The last ring would have been forgotten, had it not been so significant, while this ring seemed to be _trying_ to be forgotten, despite its significance. Finally, the last ring felt completely wrong on her finger, while this ring felt completely right.

Blaise was looking at his own ring. He had also felt the heat and had tried to take the ring off, a feat he failed miserably at. Since making a scene would not accomplish anything in this situation he decided to simply try and stay in adult protection, which meant going to the Great Hall where the Professors were. Now he had to get Hermione to move because whatever happened to his ring may also be on hers and he needed the leverage Hermione could eventually wield.

"Come on Ariel, let's get this evening over and done with. You barely ate at breakfast and we missed lunch so we are probably both starving."

"I thought your 'oh so busy' schedule would not permit you to watch Disney movies. How do you know about Ariel?" Hermione asked.

"Horizon tries to educate the whole child, which includes the creative sides. We had talent shows and concerts where we would watch movies while waiting for our time to perform, 'The little Mermaid' was played during year two. Unfortunately for you I managed to arrange study dates with Cassandra and would spend one night a week watching movies with her. She loved Disney, particularly the ones with princesses and Prince Charming riding to the rescue. I can almost recite 'Swan Lake', that was her favorite story, so we would watch it repeatedly." Blaise replied fondly.

"Your speaking in past tense, did something change?"

"We grew up. We started working and had less time for movie nights. We would talk business and make plans. We decided to just watch the movie the next week, then the next until we forgot what we wanted to do. When we did watch a movie it would be more age appropriate not a little child's movie like 'Snow White' or 'Cinderella'. When you grow older fairy tales and magic just loss their appeal and you forget why it entranced you." Blaise grew sad as he contemplated the idea, he hadn't thought the movie nights for years. They used to be the highlight of the week, simply sitting in the dark with Cassandra and Poeny watching the video's Blaise bought with his pocket money. He hadn't noticed the loss of his stolen moments of childhood.

"I didn't lose the appeal of fantasy until I came across the reality. I would read fairy tales and fantasy stories whenever I needed to escape. I particularly loved 'A midsummer nights dream' even though I didn't entirely understand it. I could just picture Tatania, Oberon and Puck. It was a great disappointment to look in 'Fantastic Beasts' and read about real fairies, almost as disappointing as finding out what real wizards and witches were like. To me, the wizarding world is like gold plated jewelry, it looks fantastic at a glance but when you scratch beneath the surface it is dull and grey." Hermione became sad herself, she hadn't thought of her disappointment since she became friends with Harry and Ron, something else she might lose in the near future.

"Well we were off-topic anyway, I at least missed most of breakfast and we both skipped lunch so we should hurry to the Great Hall to eat now."

"Why are you so anxious, we have plenty of time" Hermione complained.

"I was up late last night and woke early this morning. I don't really eat in the morning and now that I think about it I didn't eat dinner last night either meaning in the last 24 hours I have had three sandwiches, two pieces of toast and maybe three glasses of orange juice. I am hungry and I don't feel right leaving you here by yourself. Can we please leave so I can eat something substantial soon?" Blaise retorted, he could go for fifty hours without food and not be overly bothered by it but he did want to get the ring checked by the Headmaster as soon as possible.

"You can be such a baby, fine, let's go."

Hermione noticed and ignored the whispered that followed her as she made her way to the Gryffindor table for dinner. It seemed that her friendly arrival with Blaise had not gone unnoticed, although Harry and Ron still seemed oblivious. Hermione was almost disappointed at this. It would have made broaching the subject a bit easier. She sighed as she dropped into her seat and the boys looked up.

"Hey Mione, are you alright? We haven't seen you all weekend." Harry asked.

"Yeah, at first we thought you were just upset, what with the new law and everything, but no one else has really seen you for more then five minutes either." Ron agreed.

"You know you can always talk to us and lots of things can happen between now and June. The law is crazy, it can easily be appealed." Harry added.

"Unfortunately I need something to happen in the next four weeks. Professor Dumbledore called me and Blaise to his office yesterday morning after I left. It seems that our parents arranged our marriage years ago and decided not to tell us for some god forsaken reason. According to the law, we have to marry by the end of the month."

Harry and Ron looked at Hermione for a moment and started laughing, drawing attention from every corner of the room. Hermione just let them; she could regain their attention when Ginny showed up. Lavender chose that time to slide into the empty space by Hermione. She glanced at the madly laughing boys then looked back at Hermione.

"So why did you show up with Blaise. Starting to choose between your prospects for the end of school?" She asked.

"In a manner of speaking. Blaise and I are engaged; we're getting married in a few weeks." Hermione answered, this time she showed her ring as proof.

Lavender grabbed her hand and pulled it closer to examine the ring.

"Why didn't you hide it? A week ago I would have sworn that you barely knew Blaise and that Blaise barely knew you. And why are you wearing a wedding ring instead of an engagement ring?"

"It was a betrothal, not a formal engagement. My parents for some reason decided not to tell me and Blaise's did the same to him. Professor Dumbledore called us both to his office yesterday to tell us, we wrote to our parents to complain and they sent back a ring to give to each other."

"That's harsh, but you are actually lucky. At least you know the person you have to marry. I was talking to the other girls and they said in most arranged marriages the pair is introduced when the arrangement is first made and the kids are like five or something. Then they never meet again until the girl is 18 and old enough to marry. If the parents are okay with it, sometimes the couple can often socialize with each other for a few months , it's almost the new custom, but if it is a business arrangement like a lot of betrothal are, the two get married pretty much as soon as possible."

"I guess I am lucky. Blaise and Ginny have been telling me I am all weekend but I haven't really been listening. I just calmed down about the whole thing this evening."

By this time Harry and Ron had calmed down and were listening to Hermione and Lavender talk in horror.

"You weren't kidding, and Ginny knew about this?" Ron yelled in horror.

"Why would I joke about something like that Ron? Hundreds of women are being forced into a life long commitment; girls in this school are being forced to marry. You KNEW I would have to marry at the end of the school year and you're yelling at ME because I am being FORCED to do so before everyone ELSE!" Hermione was beginning to lose her temper.

"Why didn't you tell us earlier? You told Ginny and not us." For once Harry remained somewhat calm. He was more hurt then angry. Hermione noticed and calmed down herself.

"I was in shock. I couldn't believe it was really happening so I wanted to pretend it wasn't happening, if I told you guys it would become real. Then I got the ring and Professor Dumbledore said that Blaise and I needed to get married as soon as we could so we would have as much time to get around the ministries objections as we could get. That made it all become real and I couldn't ignore it anymore. I am sorry that I didn't tell you straight away but I just needed a chance to deal with it all. The only person I told was Ginny to help me cope. She knows what is like to have no control and she could have had this same problem next year. I know she would understand."

"We would have understood Hermione. You could have told us, we would have listened." Harry said.

"Like you listened tonight?" Hermione asked sarcastically. "You were rolling on the floor laughing for a good five minutes Harry, you just assumed I was making a joke probably to cover up now weak I had been, hiding away all weekend."

"Why would the ministry object to you getting married? Like you said, you have no choice. They are getting what they want so why would they be objecting?" Ron asked.

"Well actually," Hermione started wondering how she would around this without out-right lying, "My betrothal is a bit more open then most. I have to get married, there's no way around that, but I can choose between a muggle or wizarding ceremony. If we aren't compatible and fail marriage counseling, or we don't have a child within three years we can divorce and marry someone else if we want."

"You have to try and have a child?" Ron asked.

"Yeah but that really translate to having unprotected sex the night before the divorce." Hermione defended herself. She didn't want to think about that.

"Hermione if it was a magical contract, which it probably would have been if the ministry knows about it, you will feel magically bound to honestly fulfill it. You will feel increasingly attracted to Blaise and eventually you will feel like you want to have a child with him. Magical contracts have a low level of awareness and actively seek to be fulfilled. If you work against the contract it will start to work against you." Ron warned.

"My dad wouldn't do that to me, he wouldn't force me to have a child." Hermione denied.

"I'm sorry Hermione, you know how I feel about real families, but if he would force you to marry someone without warning he may well have decided to mix children into the concept."

"I was meant to be warned. I was meant to be told when I was 21 and have a year to decide what to do. My dad did not mean to force me into marriage, even when he was drunk he ensured I had choice! I could choose my husband, I could choose the type of wedding and I had three years to ensure we were really impotent if we actually wanted a family! I was not being forced until your stupid government decided to interfere and force everyone into marriage!" Hermione yelled.

Once again the entire hall was quiet except for a low level of murmuring from the head table. It made it easy for everyone to hear Harry's quiet words.

"You could choose your husband and you chose Blaise." Harry started getting louder "You didn't even talk it over with your best friends. You just went running to that Slytherin and probably spent all weekend planning your stupid wedding that you were apparently forced into even though you had lots of choice! You are obviously lying about something Hermione and from the way you were showing off that ring it's bloody obvious what you were lying about. Why don't you go running back to your fiancé Hermione, I don't think anyone else is interested in your little games."

Hermione burst into tears and ran from the room, she had been trying to get stronger but she still wasn't there yet. Blaise swore under his breath and started after her, it would look strange if he just ignored it and Hermione would probably never speak to him again. He would just have to hope that one of his agents would give him a semi-accurate report about the turmoil that he was about to miss.

Hermione ran into Ginny almost as soon as she exited the Great Hall. Ginny grabbed hold of her arms and spun them both in a circle to halt their momentum. She looked at Hermione's face and cursed under her breath, much like Blaise had done a mere second earlier. She pulled Hermione in a hug then, keeping Hermione in a one-armed hug, led her towards the Astronomy tower.

"Hermione, what happened? Who do I have to wreak terrible revenge on?" Ginny asked, completely serious. Hermione just continued to sob so Blaise spoke up.

"Well that would be either Hermione herself for saying more then she should have or Harry for being a complete arsehole. For once your brother held his temper though he asked the question that could be the root of that little outbreak. If you were further back there would be Dumbledore for advising Hermione to come clean about the situation, me for agreeing to marry her in the first place, Fudge for deciding to exit the world of politics with such a spectacular bang, our fathers for writing then registering the stupid contract, Hermione's aunt for pushing her father into considering the contact, our paternal grandparents for giving birth to our fathers though if our maternal parents hadn't given birth to our mothers we ourselves would not have been born. Need I go on?" Blaise asked. He wrapped his own around Hermione from the opposite side of Ginny and gently led them both towards the balcony roof Hermione favored.

"You could be a bit more sympathetic you know. I really do work on revenge and you did list yourself as a culprit." Ginny warned but she was too worried about Hermione to put real venom in her words.

"I am just as much a victim as I am a culprit. A bit more of a victim actually, Slytherins really study their hexes and I have to sleep in a room full of them. Clearly if Hermione has a choice, which she so loudly advertised, then I must have had a choice as well. As a Slytherin pureblood I am expected to force Hermione to ask me in front of as many witnesses as possible and publicly laugh in her face to make her humiliation absolute. I am actually going to need to ask the Headmaster to move me to another dorm or I will be unrecognizable in the morning."

"Sadly Hermione is in a similar situation. She won't be in the same physical danger as you but words can be just as deadly as an unforgivable." Ginny agreed. Hermione started to cry more loudly.

Ginny opened a nearby door which happened to lead to a deserted classroom. All three sat on a desk with Hermione remaining in the middle until Blaise slid off and knelt in front of Hermione. He gently took her chin and made her look at him.

"Come on Odette, you are stronger then this. You made it through all the shocks of the weekend, now you just need to survive the accompanying bumps. A single action speaks louder then a thousand words and Harry and Ron have been showing you their love in their actions for years. Thousands of actions must surely drown out the hundred words that Harry just spoke." Blaise said.

"If Harry and Ron really meant whatever they said they don't deserve your friendship. It hurts Hermione, I know it does, but they turned against you once before and you survived. This time you don't have just me, you also have Blaise and Jet so it'll be easier. You made friends with the house elves and Lilac is your version of Dobby. She would do anything for you, and won't nearly kill you as she does it. Lilac will bring you your meals if you want so you won't be forced to eat with everyone. The Professors will keep everyone in line during class and I'm sure the Professor Dumbledore will let and Blaise share a room, it would even lessen the trouble you'll receive from the ministry. You can do this Hermione." Ginny urged.

Hermione nodded and began looking for a tissue. Blaise reached in a pocket and offered her his handkerchief. Hermione just looked at it.

"It's clean Hermione. I wouldn't offer it if I knew it was dirty. It wouldn't still be in my pocket if it were dirty actually since it would have had to have been used yesterday and I would have put it with my dirty laundry." Blaise hastened to reassure her though the hint of sarcasm almost ruined the effect.

"I assumed it was clean actually, Hermione said with the same level of sarcasm. "I was just wondering why you were carrying a handkerchief; you seem more like a tissue person."

"You can't tie someone's hands with a tissue and it's a bit harder and more dangerous for the victim to gag someone with a tissue. A handkerchief is much more useful in those situations." Blaise told her. Ginny looked at him oddly, there was something slightly off about his tone when he said that. She shook her head slightly and banished the thought to be examined later. Hermione herself took it as intended, as a joke.

"Most wizards would just cast 'silenco' or a version of 'petrificus'. Why do you use muggle methods?" She asked.

"We aren't meant to use our wands outside of school, and there are too many witnesses who can hear you in school. Anyway, wizards never expect a physical attack and the element of surprise should never be underestimated. A lot of battles are won in the first five minutes." Blaise answered. Ginny flagged that memory to be examined later as well. It was clear that Blaise was underestimating her.

"I'm sorry guys but it is getting late and I doubt that Professor Dumbledore will let me bunk with you two if the school realizes that I sided with you two. I need to find a boy-toy to be my alibi, perhaps I'll get a bit of fun out of it as well." Ginny announced.

"Thanks for your help Ginny. And what happened to Samuel, I was beginning to think he was a keeper, he lasted longer then a lot of others." Hermione asked. Ginny's love life was always an interesting distraction.

"I just needed to proof that I could do the commitment thing. My wild ways were scaring off all the good guys and attracting all the players." Ginny laughed and Hermione took over, she knew the next line.

"And in the immortal words of Cassie Merteuil: 'The only bad thing about fucking someone as twisted as yourself is you're fucking someone as twisted as yourself.' How did you extract yourself from Samuel? A reformed woman would need a solid reason to dump her boyfriend, and a boy who reformed his previously player girlfriend would try his hardest not to blow it."

"Alas, even the strongest man will bend to temptation. I told Susannah Earnwurst that I was afraid Samuel was only dating me because of my reputation and that he was cheating on me behind my back because I wouldn't sleep with him. I begged Susannah to flirt with him to test him. Samuel folded and kissed her, and I arranged for a couple of girls to overhear her telling me that Samuel had basically cheated on me. As of this morning, the whole school, except you two, knows that I was being the dutiful girlfriend and Samuel was only dating me because of my former reputation."

"You are evil. And you should really get going or you will need to hold on to the next one until the end of term and orchestra a holiday affair." Hermione warned her.

"Thank you, and you are right." Ginny laughed then sobered up. "I'm glad you're feeling better Hermione. Be good to her Blaise, as I told you, I work at my revenge."

"I wouldn't have said yes if I wasn't planning to care for her. I know that Hermione works at revenge as well." Blaise replied. Ginny nodded and left the room.

"What makes you so certain that I would get back at you?" Hermione asked.

"You know how rumors fly about the school. You have shown flashes of your manipulative side since the first year when you lied to the teachers about fighting that troll." Blaise replied. "The scars on Marietta's face really drove the message home."

"There were rumors about me fighting the troll? I didn't hear anything." Hermione denied.

"It was more about Potter fighting the troll. You were a by-note but it struck my interest. I heard what they said about you and saw you run off crying, I knew you were too upset to attend dinner and so wouldn't have heard about the troll. If you didn't know about the troll you couldn't look for it and even if you had magically heard and been so idiotic Potter and Weasley would not have decided to help you. As hard as it is to hear, your friendship with them was built on guilt and that is never a good foundation." Blaise said.

"Nor is it a good rhyme." Hermione laughed. "Why are you calling them by their last names now, when Ginny was here you were calling them Harry and Ron?"

"It would be rude to call Weasley by his last name when his sister was here and it would be odd to call one of the duo by his last name and the other by his given name. However, as Ginny is not here and I am more comfortable referring to Weasley and Potter by their last names, that is what I will do."

"Ginny remains Ginny?" Hermione asked.

"For a situation as trivial as the floorshow in the Great Hall I do think that everyone will bow down to their sheep like tendencies and follow Potter's lead. This time tomorrow the only student in the whole damn school who is not avoiding us like the plague will be Ginny. It is only proper that I refer to her by her given name. Anyway, she is clearly your best friend and she will be visiting us quite a lot for the remainder of the year." Blaise explained.

"It makes sense, though, if what you say turns out to be true I hope you grow used to your only company being female. I would have gone mad if the only people I could talk to were Harry and Ron."

"For many, many years the only person I could really talk to was Cassandra, and I think I survived intact. I am not afraid to be surrounded by females, if anything, the only change will be the style and topic of conversations."

"I just noticed, you haven't said a lot about Cassandra. From you have said, she is very important to you but you never say more then a few sentences about her. Why is that?" Hermione asked.

"I'm not used to talking about her, the topic rarely comes up and Cassandra is a part of my life that I don't really show to anyone at school. Anyway, from what Ginny said Jet is important to you and you don't talk about him." Blaise explained.

"I'll tell you about Jet if you tell me about Cassandra, and I'll ask you about Cassandra in front of anyone who stays still for long enough if you don't tell me about her know."

"Fine, let's go to your roof, my private life is just that, private. Just because you are in the position to threaten me doesn't mean that everyone should be given the opportunity." Blaise grumbled. He didn't want anyone to know about Cassandra but this would potentially stop Hermione from snooping further into it.

"That is perfectly understandable Blaise, as is my interest in your confidante. I will be spending a lot of time with you Blaise and from the way you speak of her that would mean I will be spending a lot of time with Cassandra as well."

That was another problem Blaise would have to sort out at a later time. For now he simply wanted to get some guaranteed privacy from the other occupants of the castle. He sighed.

"Come on, let's go.

A few minutes earlier in the Great Hall

Susannah Earnwurst glared at Hermione's back as the older girl ran from the room and almost growled when Blaise ran after his fiancé a second later. She couldn't believe that Hermione had the audacity to complain about her marriage when Susannah was in a much worse predicament. Hermione not only got to choose who she married, but she chose the man with whom Susannah herself was infatuated. Unless Hermione became pregnant, Professor Dumbledore would probably let her stay in school. Susannah had already been told that she would not be returning to Hogwarts next September. She had fought for months to be allowed to return this year, her father said she had no need for an additional education, as Alexander would provide for her. She just had to work on pleasing him and learning to take care of the house. Her mother had been bedridden for weeks after pleading with her husband to allow Susannah to return. They had both invested so much effort to allow Susannah to return to Hogwarts and get her NEWTs, and now it was ruined. Her life was in tatters and Hermione was flaunting her luck while complaining that she had been **forced** into it.

Even the gossip was slowly starting to turn in Hermione's favor. The little bitch's act was marvelous. Susannah had to admit that, though she did it grudgingly. Everyone thought that Hermione was really upset about the law and her impending marriage. The girls were realizing that they would soon be in the same situation, and boys were easily swayed by tears unless they were the ones who were causing them. Hermione didn't deserve the schools sympathy, she didn't deserve Blaise, and she didn't deserve the chance to be happy if she didn't realize that chance was there. Hermione didn't deserve all that she had been given, so Susannah was going to take it all away, bit by bit. She even had the perfect way to start already planned out.


	9. payback

To be honest I didn't think anyone was still reading this, so this chapter goes out to Nikki-4.

I just finished my school semester and am going on holidays to a country that speaks French, which I don't understand, so the next chapter will either be up soon as I embrace the use of English or take a while as I am enjoying the marvels of a different country. At the moment it's a toss up.

Finally, as I have not worked on this for ages I reread it to familiarise myself with the story again and saw just how badly this story starts. To remind everyone else who has not read this in a while: The ministry has passed a law which requires every witch of child bearing age who fulfils the conditions I have not yet written to get married. At the moment the conditions are that they are not already married, they do not have a medical condition that prohibits the conception of children and that they are not in school. If they are engaged they have to get married no matter what.

**Stormy Sunset Chapter Nine**

(this is set a week after the last chapter)

As Blaise had expected the news of his impending marriage to Hermione had spread quickly and he had begun to receive reports about it the day after Harry had so loudly reported the news in the great hall. Along with the speculation about the fate of the golden trio was a list of the other marriages that were being announced and the reactions that this law had caused. Three of Incognito's agents were engaged and being forced into early marriage by the law, though they were taking it more calmly then Hermione had. They had already been asked to spy on their fiancée's and so were prepared for their new life. Others had finished school and so were also included in the law but Cassandra was working on pairing them with male agents that they had trained with so their secret would remain safe.

Hemione's reaction was the main weight on his mind. After Potter had blurted the news she had remained angry for a day then just withdrawn. The reaction of the rest of the school had been just as they had suspected: hostile. No one was speaking to Hermione or himself unless it was insult. They had been moved to their own suite of rooms after Hermione had been involved in a nasty incident involving some moving stairs. Even McGonagall and Snape had been rather less sympathetic then Blaise had expected from them. Blaise suspected that Hermione would have become severely depressed if Ginny had not been there with them. Blaise tried to lift her spirits, it was in his best interests as well as theirs, but he was too close to the matter. Ginny was not part of the problem and was close enough to Fred and George to have custom-made jokes at her disposal. To Blaise it seemed like she had made it her mission to make Hermione laugh at least once a day and Blaise was amazed at how covert her interactions with Hermione were. She was as sneaky as Blaise was himself, possibly more so as she had remained undetected by him for the last six years. The laughs Ginny provided did not last long enough for Blaises liking and Hermione's withdrawal continued to lie on his mind.

**Elsewhere**

It was the last straw. She could deal with the isolation, she had done so for the first few weeks at Hogwarts and this time round she had Ginny, her parents and Blaise. She could deal with the taunts, she had had a lot of practice between Draco and the less studious students. She could even deal with the obvious discrimination that some of her professors were showing but the little accidents that had been following her around for the past week had pushed Hermione beyond her limits, much like she had been pushed into a closet and locked into it for the past two hours. It had given her plenty of time to begin planning for her revenge. It didn't matter if only one person was doing these despicable acts or if many of the students had decided to follow through with their ugly little thoughts, they were all going to pay and at the end they would be begging her to write 'sneak' across her their face.

**Later**

For the first time this week Hermione walked confidently into the Great Hall and sat at the end of the Gryffindor table. Ignoring the circle that grew around her as people moved away she brought out a book and began to read as she ate. Ginny entered a few minutes later and stopped in shock, stumbling a bit as Michael, her latest conquest tugged on her when he continued forward. Shaking her head she went to sit at her normal spot near Harry, bringing Michael along with her.

Leaning towards Ron she asked "What is Hermione doing here? I haven't seen her eat all week."

"The traitor? I don't know. She should be sitting with the rest of the snakes. She doesn't belong here."

"I meant in the Great Hall, Ron. Not the Gryffindor table. She hasn't eaten here all week. Has she done anything odd?"

"She's just been sitting there reading and putting the rest of us off our dinner. Just ignore her like the rest of us have been doing Ginny."

"You're right Ron. I have suddenly lost my appetite." She turned towards Michael and began to give him a thorough kiss.

"Ginny, do you have to do that at the table?" Ron exclaimed making a disgusted face.

"Fine, I'm going. Michael, feel free to stay and eat. I'll just go do my homework for a few hours."

Giving Michael a small peck Ginny left. A few moments later Hermione did the same.

Once she was out of the Great Hall Hermione went to the spot where she generally met Ginny. As suspected Ginny was there waiting for her. She gave Hermione a hug then pulled her towards the quidditch pitch, stopping to grab some brooms from the broom shed. She waited until they were in the air before she began her questioning.

"You're feeling a bit better then?"

"I was locked in a cupboard for a few hours today. Someone placed a fake wand in my bag yesterday and I grabbed that one instead of my real one this morning so I had to wait for the spell to wear off before I could out. It gave me a lot of time to think."

"They seem to have been happy thoughts. I saw a smile while you were waiting for me at dinner."

"They were bitter, yet motivating. I have decided to help karma work it's magic on the student body we're starting with a bang, I would advise that you join me for breakfast tomorrow. Oh, and I also wouldn't worry overly much about homework, though knowing you, you're probably already a week ahead anyway."

"Yet everyone always falls for the, doing my homework ploy." Ginny said sadly.

"Never complain of a persons stupidity when you're using it to your advantage."

"But it takes away the challenge. You seem to have taken the only smart man in the castle, Hermione. I sometimes feel that you have all the luck."

"Dumbledore's still available." Hermione told Ginny seriously.

"He has not caught whoever is plaguing you, nor has he seemed to have worked out Blaise's secret and he hasn't caught on that you are more dangerous then you look. If he is actually intelligent he doesn't use that intelligence here."

"I haven't worked out Blaise's secret yet, nor have you shared any clues which would hint that you have."

"You haven't been yourself for a while Hermione, and I have only been trying for a week. Dumbledore has had over six years. I also believe that your stalker should have been caught after the first attack. You could have died on those stairs."

"I will be getting them back and I plan on doing things much worse." Hermione said. It sounded like the promise that it was.

"Blaise and I will be there to help you. We'll make every one at this school sorry for hurting you, or sorry for standing back and letting it happen."


	10. Set them up

I know house elves do not speak like this one will. There is a reason, I just don't want you to know what the reason is yet.

This isn't as long as I would like, but it will have to do. The continuation really deserves a new chapter.

**Set the up…**

Blaise looked up as Hermione entered the common room, sliding his comm. book closed and slipping it into the side of the couch in one motion. He was about to stand up and give her a hug, as he had done every day this week, when he noticed the small smile and glint in her eye. He decided to remain sitting.

"You look rather happy. Has a certain stalker, or better yet minister, died recently?" He was certain that she had not discovered Susannah and Cassandra would have told her about Fudge but it was a way to start the conversation.

"Sadly no, but I do believe that some people may get a bit sick tomorrow. Maybe the stalker will be amongst them. By the way, apparently Ginny will be studying late tonight and will miss most of breakfast in the hall tomorrow so I thought we might push our breakfast back and have her join us. Do you mind?"

"Should I have breakfast with a thousand eyes glaring at me in the Great Hall or a slightly later breakfast with two beautiful women smiling at me? What a tough decision, whichever shall I choose?"

"Would it help you decide if one of those beautiful girls you mentioned made it worth your while?"

"Just how would she do that?" Blaise was actually intrigued.

Hermione walked as sexily as she could behind his chair. She placed her hands on his shoulders and bent to whisper in his ear. "With some chocolate, sprinkles, ice-cream and hot fudge."

Blaise turned his head to face hers. "And just where will these treats be placed?" Blaise murmured just as softly.

"That is for me to know and you to find out." Hermione moved her face a bit closer as she answered. There was only five centimetres between them now.

"I suppose I could be persuaded to sleep in."

"Good." Hermione said as she moved back. Standing properly she went to back to her normal tone of voice. "I'm off to the kitchen."

"I should get back to my essay myself. How that idiot got hired is beyond me."

"Muggle Studies?"

"Yeah. A five foot essay on how World War II influenced the invention of computers due tomorrow. I'm not sure if some of the first years have reached five feet yet."

"How much do you have at the moment?" Hermione couldn't see any links between the two events except that modern war generally would spark the ideas for new inventions.

"Two. But I've just been outlining the basics of the war, who, what, where, why and when in the broadest sense. At least that part of the essay is easy."

"Do you know how the events are related?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, do you?" Blaise teased. He knew she hated it when someone withheld knowledge.

"I can't say that I do. Will you enlighten me?" Hermione managed to hold onto her patience. She had been on a high all evening and was determined to win this battle.

"Think of it as an enigma. Weren't you going? Our curfew starts at half past and it's five to now." Blaise answered.

"I don't have to get you that chocolate you know. You can eat in the Hall." Hermione replied, going out the door.

Blaise waited a moment to be sure Hermione had left before he took his book out again.

'_Sorry angel, Hermione came in. She seems better, not entirely back to normal but no longer depressed. I actually think that she may be planning something for breakfast tomorrow. Could you arrange for some of our agents to be absent during breakfast? Perhaps some training exercise or a sweep for intel. in the towers?'_

'_It can be arranged. Any idea about the change, she was wallowing for a while, it would take something big to snap her out of it.'_

'_Just like it would take something big for you to say Hermione's name again, I guess. Why are you so reluctant to say 'Hermione'? You had no trouble with Voldemort.'_

'_I try to avoid saying any names, as you should know. She has no code name.'_

'_You've written my name, several times actually. Thinking back, you wrote my name earlier today, and yesterday as well. Do you have another excuse?'_

'_You used to trust my judgement. Bye.'_

'_Don't be angry, my angel. I'd trust you with my life. Of course, you are my life but that just proves how much I trust you. I trust you to keep us safe, just as I hope you trust me to keep us both safe.'_

'_I trust you too, I just don't trust __**her**__.'_

'_I'm watching her. She doesn't have a clue, and I'll make sure that she never does.'_

'_You aren't going to tell her about me, or about Incognito? You promise?'_

Blaise was starting to feel guilty. He hadn't meant to tell Hermione about Cassandra but Hermione did have a way of drawing things out of him. Cassandra was a major part of his life, it was inevitable that Hermione would find out about her but he should have gotten Cassandra's permission first.

'_Angel, Hermione will be a part of my life for at least the next three years. She would eventually find out about you, it would be best if I told her about you first. I mean, if she suddenly found out that I was meeting another woman every night, she might get the wrong impression and it might draw the families attention onto you.'_

'_We've been meeting together for over ten years and your mother never found out. If you can keep a secret from our mother for ten years, why can't you keep it from __**her**__ for three years.'_

'_You got the fist syllable right, now just work on the next three. I can keep our meetings from my mother because she never slept with me. It's a bit harder to keep midnight meetings from someone who is sleeping in the same bed that you are.'_

'_You aren't actually sleeping with her are you? Eww.'_

'_We will be married, Angel. And the contract starts that we must try for a child. That would require sex, which would be more comfortable in a bed and more convenient at night before sleeping.'_

'_I'll miss our nights together. I always sleep better when I'm with you.'_

'_You'll still have me during the day.'_

'_Incognito has always done some training at night.'_

'_You can manage Angel. I better say goodnight before Hermione comes back. I love you Cassandra.'_

'_I love you too, Blaise. Sleep well.'_

Blaise closed the book after logging the interaction and pulled out his parchment. He, like Hermione, really missed his laptop but unfortunately, unlike Hermione, he didn't have an alternative readily available. He pulled out his draft, making notes on what parts sounded too advanced for the typical seventh year student the got to work re-writing it.

**At the same time**

In the kitchen, Hermione had drawn aside a small house elf and was speaking softly to her, the elf nodded.

"Yes, Mistress Hermione. I can do that."

"You must be very discrete. Don't tell the other house elves."

"I know. I won't tell them, I won't tell Miss Ginny and I won't tell Master Blaise."

"Have you talked to Blaise?"

"No, Mistress Hermione. I must, when you are married but I doubt you want him to know so I stay down here until you both are in class."

"Thank you. Can you get me a hot chocolate, and I promised Blaise a sundae, with hot fudge, shaved chocolate and sprinkles. Feel free to add in whatever treats you can imagine would taste good."

"Of course Mistress Hermione. I will be back in a moment."

As promised the house elf was back a minute later bearing a large mug of hot chocolate and a dish containing the sundae, and with two spoons.

"In case Master Blaise feels like sharing." The house elf explained when Hermione looked at the spoons.

Hermione just shook her head and left the kitchens.

**Back at the suite**

Hermione entered the room frowning again.

"I think we should have gotten a spoken password, this new system is a bit annoying."

"You just have to trace a pattern, how annoying can it be?" Blaise replied without looking up from the parchment.

"Very." Hermione snapped. She sighed, "I brought back your bribe."

Blaise looked up, "With two spoons. Traditionally when offering a bribe, it is to be used at the total discretion of the person being bribed."

"I didn't want the house elf to beat himself because I expressed my disapproval of the spoons. If you don't want me to have any, I won't, it is your bribe."

"Feel free to dig in, but I get at least half. I worked hard for that bribe."

"Yes, that sarcasm you had to dredge up from the very bottom of your soul must have been so hard to find. I could never have thought of such a very original comment."

"See, I deserve the majority of that sundae." Blaise picked up a spoon and offered it to Hermione who took it with a laugh. Blaise picked up the other spoon and dug in.

"Have you done anything like this before? Spent the night flirting with a boy while eating ice-cream?" Blaise asked curiously a few seconds later.

"Yeah, Jet and I would spend the weekends together during the holidays. Sammy would make a big desert like this one and give us two spoons. We would talk about school and complain about our parents. We would practice flirting but since we are cousins it was never serious. We both knew it was practice. The first holiday when I got back from Hogwarts it was horrible to be told that Jet didn't want over that weekend. My parents started taking me around Europe to get my mind of it, or maybe it was to get me away from Death Eater activity in Britain. They said it was because of Jet, but apparently they have been lying to me all my life so how can I know for sure?"

"You can ask, or you can accept that it either way it was to save you from pain. You're parents seem t be good people Hermione."

"A priest can seem like a good person too, until you find out that he has been molesting the children of his congregation. Appearances are deceiving Blaise."

"I'm well aware of that Hermione." Blaise whispered. He took another bite of ice-cream.


	11. And knock them down

I almost want to wait to post this because I am one review short of reaching my maximum number of posts for a chapter but considering how easy this chapter was to write, I won't hold it back.

Now we get to the fun part. I can sometimes see the chess pieces moving about the board, and only I know who all the players will be. A hint: There will be moe then five.

Looking back at my story I realised that Hermione and Blaise were meant to register a week ago. (To get married in Britain you have to register your intent, wait a certain number of days then you're free to get married. Or at least that was the procedure when I look it up when I started the story. I'm sticking to that process.)

… **and knock them down.**

Hermione was actually feeling pretty bad, which was unusual when she was in the middle of potion making. Normally she could ignore all the sound around her and focus on the magic and science of the potion making art. Tonight, no matter how hard she tried, she could not block the sound of Blaise writing in the common room and it was making her feel guilty. She could have told him that it was unlikely that they would have classes tomorrow, she had warned Ginny, but something told her that Blaise was dangerous with information. Blaise was dangerous period, just being near him made her skin prickle and made her hyper-aware of her surroundings. It made her wonder how she had overlooked him for the past few years.

Hermione heard the sound in the common room stop and stopped her own movements, if Blaise tried to peek his head in the room she was screwed. That was probably another reason she was feeling bad, she could have had Blaise in bed hours ago and been able to brew this potion in relative safety. Hermione heard footsteps move around the adjoining room and pause at her doorway before moving on. It sounded like Blaise was going into his own room. Hermione softly let out a sigh and finished her potion. She put on gloves and dipped one of her vials into the brew then replaced the vial into her potions kit. She vanished the contents of her cauldron and placed the cauldron away with her potions kit. Glancing at her watch she frown, it was one in the morning, and went to bed.

**Morning**

Despite their respective late nights both Hermione and Blaise were up by half past seven.

"So, you finished your essay pretty early then Blaise?" Hermione asked. He looked very rested for someone who had only had a little over six hours sleep.

"I had a draft done up, I just had to re-check it then write it again neatly. How'd you sleep?"

"Okay, it takes a while for me to adjust to a new bed."

"When is Ginny coming for breakfast?"

"She should be here in an hour. Classes are meant to start in two hours and she'll need to make an appearance in the common room after we finish eating here." Hermione guessed.

"Whatever shall we do in the mean time?" Blaise asked with the same teasing tone Hermione had used last night.

"I intend to have a shower and check over my work for today, I don't know how you intend to spend your time."

"May I join you? A shower can be such a lonely time."

"A lonely shower can also be such an enjoyable time. Many of my best ideas came to me in the oh so lonely shower." Hermione slowly began moving around Blaise who had blocked the pathway to the bathroom.

"Inspiration can also come in the company of others."

"I must say that you have yet to inspire me, Blaise. Why should such a change of location prompt your presence to grant me inspiration?"

"If my presence has not inspired you yet, it may be that you have not been paying enough attention. My efforts in the shower would guarantee your attention and through that may prompt inspiration."

"Your words have captured my attention, your body has captured my attention and your mind has captured my attention, yet I don't feel inspired to do more then knock you unconscious so I can have my shower in peace." Hermione had gotten to the other side of Blaise and slipped into the bathroom, quickly shutting the door and fusing the wood to look it.

"I am going to have fun with her." Blaise murmured as he got out his book to talk with Cassandra.

'_Have you gotten some agents out of the hall?'_ Blaise wrote.

'_I have three searching for your rooms and another two are intercepting the mail coming to the castle this morning. I didn't ant anyone to be suspicious that so many students are skipping breakfast today so the rest will have to suffer. What do think will happen?'_

'_I have no idea. I regret not asking Hermione to be an agent her first year, she hid her cunning very well at first.'_

'_I would watch out for Ginny. She flew under both our radars until this debacle came up. We still have no idea what she is capable of.'_

'_And you were saying that this was a bad idea. Love you Angel.'_

Blaise logged the conversation then closed the book and began gathering his things for his own shower when Hermione got out.

**Later**

Breakfast had just appeared on the table when Ginny knocked on the door. Hermione got up to open the door and gave Ginny a hug once she had stepped in.

"You know, you can trust me with the password." Ginny complained as Hermione led her to the table.

"The headmaster has joined the scientific age. It's DNA protected, and it does not have a verbal password, you have to trace a specific image on a specific part of the tapestry. I'd ask the Headmaster to key you in but he seems to be so busy." Hermione smirked as she finished and they all started breakfast, talking between bites.

"And is he likely to become more busy?" Ginny asked. She had witnessed Hermione's plotting before, which was way she had quickly accepted the invitation to breakfast.

"With this new law in effect, probably. I think that most of the people who are unhappy with the ministry tend to approach him. I also think that the ministry tend to use him to placate those people so he gets bombarded either way." Hermione answered. This was the bad part of her plan.

"Harry talks with Dumbledore often. He says that he has a lot of parents trying to take their girls out of school now. He also has a lot of parents begging him to keep their girls in for a few more years. Girls in my year are deliberately failing. Some because they feel it doesn't matter what they do, they won't need their NEWTs, the rest think that if they fail they could convince the heads to let them resit the year. Those girls might be urged to do so by their parents.

Even the girls who are still doing well at the work are starting to react to the law. They are either beginning to act extremely conservatively or extremely… the best word can think of is sluttish. The guys are getting really arrogant. While you are still the prime target, the girls are ganging up on each other trying to eliminate the competition for the best husbands. The dormitory is nearly empty at night, the girls are trying to get pregnant know so their parents can force the boy they claim to be father to marry them. A few girls are focussing their attention on Harry, and this time he isn't fighting them on it. A couple of guys have announced their decision to court me once we're out of here. They have asked for a trail run while we are still here."

"Is anyone still unaffected?" Hermione asked.

"The craziness starts with the girls in the fifth year and they are mostly starting to flaunt or hide their bodies. The boys are happy about their increased chances to 'score' but both are being careful about pregnancy. I've described my year but Colin and Luna are both staying out of it. Colin's hanging out with me a bit more but he isn't verbalising any anxiety, or glee, about the law. Luna seems out of it but she is defending you. I told her that I overheard some girls plotting about a lust spell in the pumpkin juice this morning and that she might want to have breakfast in the kitchen this morning."

"I feel like you suspect me of doing something to breakfast this morning. You know that Hogwarts elves won't allow any wholesale pranks to be pulled at Hogwarts while Dumbledore is headmaster. How could I do anything with breakfast if I even wanted to?"

"Yeah Ginny, how could you suspect my fiancé of so malicious a deed?" Blaise asked. Maybe she would let something slip.

Ginny's reply was interrupted by a note appearing on the table.

Miss Granger, Miss Weasly and Mr Zabini, you are all urgently needed at the Great Hall. Please come with all due haste.

-Headmaster Dumbledore

"Gee, I wonder what could have happened." Blaise whispered sarcastically as all three moved to the door.

**In the Great Hall**

Hermione, Blaise and Ginny looked with fascination at the scene in the hall. Approximately a third of the students were in various states of panic, a few were standing on the benches screaming and running their hands over their bodies, more were running around the room, screaming and looking over their shoulders, some pockets were crying and calling out intelligible gibberish while huddling under the tables. The rest of the panicking people were doing acts too numerous to recount. Some of the other students were trying to calm the panicking ones while the rest were just trying to stay out of the way and work out what was happening. Taking it all in the trio went up to the head table where Professor Dumbledore sat alone as the rest of the professor were trying to sort out the bedlam.

Seeing the trio approach Professor Dumbledore finally took action and froze the affected students. The rest of the room, when they noticed, turned their attention to the headmaster.

"Miss Granger, Mr Zabini, as you can see an incident took place here a few minutes ago. Several students have been struck down by an as yet unidentified piece of magic. As the only seventh year students whom I can be sure will not be affected by this I need you to take the other students to a secure area. Mr Zabini, you will take the Slytherins and the Ravenclaws to the dungeons where Professor Snape will be waiting. Miss Granger, you will take the Gryffindors and the Hufflepuffs to the library where Madam Pince will be waiting." Professor Dumbledore raised his voice slightly to ensure that the entire hall could hear him. "I grant you both the power to take house points if the students in your charge do not obey you. Take them now then return here. Miss Weasley, wait here for a moment."

Hermione and Blaise went into action collecting the students in their assigned houses and leaving. Most of the students were in shock and didn't even try to insult them. Professor Dumbledore waited until the students had left before addressing Ginny.

"I pray you don't take this the wrong but it is the only thing I can think of. The distribution of the spell suggests that this was caused by a potion in the food. The only people that would have the knowledge to create a potion this powerful are Miss Granger, possibly Mr Zabini and yourself. I do not believe you would cause such potential harm to come to your brother, nor do I believe that Miss Granger would cause such harm to come to her friends, even with this rift between them but did you see any indications in Mr Zabini this morning that would suggest that he took part in this act?"

Ginny felt Dumbledore begin to probe her mind and through up a shield that Tom had taught her in her second year. It made her mind seem open while blurring all the details she wished to hide. The effect, Ginny thought, made her seem rather forgetful.

"No sir. We were all surprised by your summons this morning. Blaise wondered aloud why you had called us." Ginny answered. 'Of course he didn't mean me to hear him'. She added silently.

"Do you know if your brothers may have marketed something that may have caused this?" Dumbledore asked.

Ginny got indignant. "My brothers would never sell something that could be dangerous." Not true but this was a bit over the top, even for them. A shell could be dangerous if used the right, or wrong, way.

"Very well Miss Granger. These students will need to be treated. Would you mind helping to prepare the infirmary? We rarely get so many students injured at one time, I'm sure Madame Ponphery will appreciate the help."

"Yes Headmaster." Ginny murmured and went to the infirmary. How kind of Dumbledore to give her an excuse for being called for and staying behind.

Professor Dumbledore had just gotten all the remaining students to the infirmary when Hermione and Blaise came back.

"I will be cancelling classes today and thought that you might take the time off to register for your marriage. I believe you have gotten all the papers that you need. I shall just make you a portkey to Greenwhich and you can get this over with. As you have no classes feel free to take this time to talk to your respective parents. Just make sure you stay together."

"My mother was not able to find my passport, I believe I might know where it is. Could you make the portkey for my estate? I have a car and a half licence so I can drive Hermione and myself to the registry once I have gotten my passport."

"Certainly Mr. Zabini. Go up to your rooms to change to muggle attire, I shall send your portkey to you there."

"Certainy and thank you headmaster." Blaise said.

Blaise and Hermione turned and left the room.

AN: While I normally get my inspiration in the shower, this came to me during an unexpected drive to Strathfield, I think. The recurring theme is that I don't have a pen or paper so it was almost lost. Luckily, despite my sister thinking this is stupid, she let me have a page of her (tiny) address book and let me use her pen so I managed to use tiny messy writing to jot the ideas down.


	12. Going home

I had to re-write the start of the chapter three times before I could it to sound right to me, which is why I have the small bit about Ginny first. I am pretty sure that Austen wrote 'Jane Eyre' and the term 'Eyrie' is from Anne Bishop's 'Dark Jewel trilogy'. Stormbreaker, as many should know since the movie release is from the Alex Rider series. I can't spell Anthony's last time of the top of my head and I don't have access to the book to look it up. By the way, like Eragon, the books are better then the movie. "Good thing I'm still a kitten." is from a gilmore girls story. I can't remember which.

Whoever can tell me where I got the following quote from will receive a preview of the next chapter. Whoever can finish the verse will get a longer preview. I want the name of the character who said it, the name of the song and the name of the movie.

"The seaweed is always greener/in somebody else's lake."

**Going Home**

Ginny slipped back into the Gryffindor common room without any difficulty. It took a few minutes for people to see her. That was mostly because some people seemed to be having a delayed reaction to breakfast and the students were more focused on huddling in corners then watching the portrait hole.

"Merlin, have you people got any common sense at all? Stupefy, Stupefy, Stupefy, Stupefy!" Ginny quickly knocked out the four students running around the common room. Neville, Harry, Ron, help me bring them to the hospital wing. Why you didn't think to do that yourself…" She floated the body of the closest student out of the door without checking if the boys were following her.

**Hermione's and Blaise's room**

Great minds think alike and Hermione and Blaise are no exception, most of the time. Without talking about it they had reasoned that, as they had barely turned eighteen some people may think it strange that they were rushing through this process and so it might ease their journey to matrimony by looking a bit older. With the aid of some carefully selected clothing and shoes, a more assertive posture, and in Hermione's case the careful application of make up, both Hermione and Blaise looked more adult and self assured about their decision. Unfortunately, their attitude was still a bit juvenile at times, and their meeting in their living room was one of those times.

"Shall we get going, time waits for no man." Blaise opened the conversation rather innocently. Hermione responded in kind.

"Are you so anxious to tie yourself to me?"

"I am anxious to leave this place of unfortunate accidents. That you are the prize waiting for me at the end of this journey is merely an added bonus."

"I sometimes wonder who is behind those accidents. It started with me then spread to the rest of the school. Who knows, maybe it shall spread across the country, nay the world? Where will we be then?"

"My guess is at the centre of it all, controlling the chaos." Blaise answered, knowing with incognito he and Cassandra would rule the country if not the world. Hermione caught the implication that at least one of them had control and decided to probe a bit.

"Were you behind the little incident at breakfast?"

Blaise backtracked. "No, I believe it was your Miss Weasley who instigated the inquisition. You were there, you should remember that."

Hermione would not be sidetracked by deliberate misunderstandings. "I was talking about the incident in the Great Hall."

"The key word there is 'was'. Now we are talking about Ginny suspecting that you were planning something, perhaps the situation in the Great Hall that you are so anxious to talk about?"

"**I** recall Ginny talking the wide spread reactions that the students are exhibiting regarding the new law which is binding us together for the next three years. Besides, why would I ask if you were behind breakfast if I was the cause of the problem?"

"There is a myriad of reasons. Which one would you like to hear?"

"Why don't you start with the first one that occurred to you then you can go down through the list?"

"Then we'll be here all day." Blaise sighed. "Can we just go and get this excursion over with?"

"This isn't over." Hermione reached towards the portkey now sitting innocently on the table, Blaise did the same.

"One, two, three." And they were gone.

**Zabini manor grounds.**

"My passport would be in my wing of the manor. My parents respect my privacy so my mother would have sent an elf to get it and they wouldn't know where to look. I'll just be a few minutes so you can wander the grounds or come with me." Blaise said.

"If anyone saw me wandering through your gardens they may wonder why I'm here, so I'll follow you" Hermione replied "since you offered" she added.

"My wing is around here." Blaise led the way around the main house.

The term wing was a bit inaccurate. Blaise had a small house on the grounds, joined to the manor large by a single covered walkway. The term small was relative, it looked like it would easier house twenty people without crowding.

"Who lives here?" Hermione tried to clarify.

"Just me mostly. Sometimes I have a few friend for a week or two but mostly I live alone."

"You could invite a couple of quidditch teams for a week and not feel crowded." Hermione said, almost in awe.

"I value my privacy, it will take a while to adjust to having **you** here."

"You did indicate that it was okay for me to come in, I can stay out here if you want." Hermione was hurt.

"The ministry might question us if I forced my wife to live outside for two years. The Daily Prophet would be running articles on it for a month at least and my mother would probably send me daily howlers as well. You will probably end up living here after school, Hermione, you can look around today and see if you like it."

"We'll be living next to your parents?" Hermione hadn't thought about life with Blaise after school. She knew she would be married but hadn't thought about living arrangements. It seemed that she was still a bit in shock, hopefully her revenge would help clear the fog away.

"If they don't build another house for us. Unless you want to live **with** your parents, I highly doubt they built an separate wing for you."

Hermione let the perceived insult pass. "At least we will still have separate rooms."

"We'll have to talk about that later. Would you like to actually go inside now?" Blaise was sick of standing on his own lawn looking at his house.

Hermione blushed, "Of course." They went in.

Hermione glanced around at the foyer as Blaise strode towards the staircase on the side of the room. She quickly tired of trying to look around while keeping up and stood still.

"Blaise!" She said loudly.

He stopped and looked back. "What?"

"You said this was a chance for me to look around. You're walking to fast for to do that so instead of making me invade your privacy by wandering by myself, why don't you give me a tour?"

"Fine." Blaise came back to stand next to Hermione. "This level is all communal rooms. This is the foyer, obviously. The fireplace is connected to floo, the grate is actually named Eyrie."

"Jane Austen?" Hermione asked.

"Anne Bishop actually." Blaise began leading Hermione through the rest of the ground floor, naming each room as they passed by or through it. "The living room is here, kitchen, dining room, drawing room, parlour, powder room, ball room and solarium. That's about it on the ground floor. There's a lavatory connected to the powder room and on the other side of the ball room. I suspect that my mother will make us hold an engagement party here and probably the reception for our formal wedding after school."

"Okay, what's on the next floor?"

"Follow me, madam." Blaise offered Hermione his arm.

"Mademoiselle, please." Hermione placed her hand his arm and they ascended the stairs.

"This floor is mostly for bedrooms. I was involved in the planning of the house so I managed to get the library moved up here too." They stopped at the top of the stairs. "I've told you that Cassandra and I are close, when I moved in I set a room aside for Cassandra. We are both private so our rooms are warded and lock through both muggle and wizarding means. Your room will have the same protection. As my wife you will have access to my room but I can't violate Cassandra's trust by giving you access to her room."

"If you, and she, live here by yourselves, why take such elaborate means to guard your rooms?"

"They are Cassandra's reasons, I can't explain them. I can only tell you that I just followed her example and suggest you do the same."

"I can accept that. Which rooms are which?"

Blaise lead Hermione down the hallway. Each of the rooms were placed well apart and had what looked like a scanner on the wall next to the door. Hermione just looked pointedly between the scanner and Blaise.

"Part of the muggle means is fingerprint recognition. My dad owns an IT company and I read the reports his research teams send him. This technology isn't commercially available yet, it's still not cost effective for most companies." Blaise started moving again then stopped beside a door, "All those rooms were empty, this one is Cassandra's, I don't know what booby traps she might have placed so please don't try to enter." He crossed the hallway. "This one is mine. I suspect that every one expects you to share with me so I doubt that a room has been prepared for you, I'll place you next door to me. Follow me to the library."

The library, while not as good as Hogwarts being a personal use library, was still large. There was a range of books and scrolls, both fiction and non-fiction, originating from both the muggle and wizarding world.

"Since I set up the room for my own use, the sections aren't labelled and don't follow the dewy decimal system. I am sure you can work it all out for yourself. My passport will be in my room, I'll go get it now, and you can look around here. I shouldn't be long."

Hermione nodded and walked towards a shelf of scrolls. She pulled put a few and found they were all maps and, strangely enough, building plans. The maps were labelled according to conventional means but the plans were marked with a sequence of letters and numbers. Hermione drifted towards a low shelf near an armchair and found some muggle books.

"Stormbreaker?" She read the back, it compared itself to a junior James Bond novel. Checking the blurb of other books on the shelf, Hermione found they all followed a similar theme. She began to work her way methodically through the library to find out more about Blaise.

**Blaise's room**

"Hermione appears to have grown up a bit since those pictures taken in your fourth year."

Blaise smiled as he saw Cassandra sitting in his bed but noticed that her tone was angry.

"It has been a few years and we made the effort to look more adult today. My hunch abut breakfast paid off, it appears to have been a potion which makes people see their fears. Not as strong as facing a boggart but still enough to frighten the standard person. I want to know how she did it, we could use it as a diversion and to soften people up before negotiations."

"I'm sure Dumbledore will be looking into it, he might say something to the board of governors which would give us a starting point to analyse the potion. Speaking of Dumbledore, tell me why I had to spend the past hour hiding in your room. If you weren't my soul mate I would maim you for ordering me around."

"Actually what I said was: 'Please get my passport. Hermione and I will be coming home in a moment. Fair warning.' I asked you for my passport and gave you the option of meeting Hermione or staying out of the way."

"About that, I heard you tell Hermione about my room. She knows about me, you said you wouldn't let anyone know about me."

Blaise realised why Cassandra was angry and sat down behind her, wrapping his arms around her.

"I told you yesterday, she has to know about you. Hermione will be living with me, you live with me, you both have access to my rooms, it would be entirely possible that you will run into each other here, or in the library or on the ground floor. The house is big but unless you intend to stay in your room I can't guarantee that Hermione won't find you. Even if you did she would wonder why your room is always locked and grow suspicious. It's safer for you if she knows that you are here and just my friend."

"Just? I'm **just** your friend. Thanks a lot Blaise, I'm glad I'm so important to you now." Cassandra yelled, she pulled away and stormed from the room. Blaise winced when he heard her door slam.

A few seconds later Hermione stood in the door way. She looked a bit embarrassed but spoke anyway. "Should I take this as assurance that you aren't cheating on me?"

"You can if you want to. I somehow ended up with an amazing respect for women, I would never cheat on some one I had promised myself to. I would rather not talk about this now, I have my passport, we can go."

"Okay." Hermione said quietly. "I know what it is like to have a fight with someone so close to you. When you want to talk I am willing to listen, quietly even."

"Thanks. Let's go downstairs. My car is in the garage with my dads, we'll need to go through the main house. Hopefully my parents are out."

"Why hopefully? They sounded nice in the letter they sent with the ring."

"You know, curiosity killed the cat." Blaise said.

"Good thing I'm still a kitten then." Hermione replied.

Blaise laughed. "Fine, both my parents are far more excited about this marriage then we are. If they get the chance to meet you in person we might not escape for a few hours. Professor Dumbledore only suggested we spend some time with our respective parents, he did not insist. I thought we spend the rest of the afternoon wandering around Greenwich talking, shopping, getting to know each other before forming our impressions off our parents."

"Sounds good, I'll wait on the driveway if you promise to buy me an ice cream. If I'm not there your parents might not insist on you staying. Relative quiet for the cost of an ice cream Blaise, it's a pretty good deal."

"Why do you always bribe me with sweets?"

"Sugar makes the world go round?"

"Fine, go up to the gate, they might look through the window." Blaise gave in. A few minutes later a blue convertible stopped by the gate.

"Nice car." Hermione said as she got in. The gate swung open and the car sped through the British countryside.

**Hogwarts kitchen**

Professor Dumbledore looked grossly out of place at the kitchen. As the elves were all so short, the ceiling was lowered. While the various students that found their way into the kitchen rarely noticed due to their height, the Headmaster found that he had stoop slightly to fit. Finding the situation to ridiculous he forsook his height advantage and sat at the table. A house elf scurried over.

"What can we do for you today Headmaster sir."

"I wish to speak with those elves who prepared breakfast this morning. Please gather them all for me, and bring them here."

"All of the elves makes breakfast Headmaster sir. Mandy wills go and bring everyone to hear Headmaster sir speak sir."

"Please do Mandy." A swarm of house elves quickly gather around Professor Dumbledore.

"This morning a potion was added to the breakfast served to the children of this school. As a result there are numerous students in the hospital wing suffering from hallucinations and an artificially increased heart rate. Did any elves add a potion to the meal as they were preparing breakfast?"

The elves all responded with a no though several began to tremble.

"Were any elves approached by a student asking for an elf to put a potion in the breakfast?" Dumbledore questioned further, though it was becoming clear that no Hogwarts elf had tampered with breakfast.

The trembling increased but no elf had become guilty enough to start punishing themselves.

"The overall responsibility of all staff at Hogwarts, be they a professor, ghost or elf, is the safety of the students. If any elf assists a student to injure another student, that elf will be presented with clothes immediately and will not be allowed back on the grounds. I will allow any one to harm students at this school. Keep a close watch on everyone in the castle; tell me if you see anyone acting suspicious."

Dumbledore was sure it was a student who had done this, he just didn't know how they had managed it. He went back to the infirmary to check on the students, he would need to make a report to give to the school governors. Even with Voldemort and Malfoy gone, they still did not entirely trust him anymore.

A/N: I meant to put the in the notification of intention to marry in this chapter but I want it to be legal and I haven't thought about the process for a while so you'll just have to wait until I have a chance to review the formalities again. The chapters are getting longer again, this is good.


	13. Intermission

My laptop is way to bright when I can't sleep. For those of you who accepted my preview, this is an intermission as I can't seem to sleep at the moment and I hope that writing will settle my thoughts. Don't expect a full length chapter for a while, this marriage notice is harder to write then I thought it would be.

Warning, very very subtle reference to potential child abuse.

**Incognito**

Lysander had decided rather early in his dealings with Incognito that adults were the most oblivious sentient creatures in the world. His one week old sister was always aware the moment someone entered the room, she even stirred in her sleep when he opened a door. His parents, however, never noticed when he left the house. He would leave a note on the dining table as a courtesy and it would be in the exact same place when he got back. Serpentine was stickler for misplaced objects, Lysander made sure to case every room he entered, which included the exact placement of everything in the room.

He knew that he was currently 1.7 feet from the slightly open door and 30.4 feet from the closed window. There was a ventilation duct near the top of the wall behind him but he would not be able to reach it. It might still carry sound, but the door was more bothersome. _Scrimgeour_might come back early so it was best that Lysander kept the door open to hear him approach but the sound could travel both ways.

Lysander moved to the desk and began shuffling the papers, skimming for the key words he was directed to look out for. He knew that the leaders were looking for information on the marriage law or blackmail information to use against Scrimgeour. The man was apparently placed to be the next minister after Fudge so it was best that they get a handle on him before he was elevated and gained a sense of security. Lysander found _Scrimgeour's planner and used his magical copier to reproduce the book. There was nothing else of interest on the desk, Lysander was about to try the drawers when he heard a noise outside, he moved to the centre of the room and waited for the man and woman he heard in the corridor to enter._

_"I don't give a damn what that …" Scrimgeour broke off when he saw Lysander. "What are you doing here lad?"_

_"Auror Tonks sent me here to collect the assignments for the next week, sir." Lysander answered innocently._

_"I think you have the wrong room, son. Auror offices are the next level up." Scrimgeour instantly became less defensive._

_"I'm so sorry. I just found out that I'm engaged this morning, my mind has been in the clouds ever since. This new law, it is messing with so many people…"_

_"Why don't you go upstairs and those papers for Auror Tonks, lad."_

_"Sorry again, as I said, in the clouds." Lysander babbled slightly as he left the room, the copied planner safely in the waistband of his pants._

_"How old are you boy?" Scrimgeour asked as Lysander reached the door._

_"Seventeen sir." He answered, looking over his shoulder as he left._

_A seven year old girl knocked on her fathers door before peeking around it._

_"Daddy?" Calliope said softly._

_"Yes baby girl?" Kieran answered, beckoning for his daughter to enter._

_"Malcolm is in the study. He says it's important."_

_"Thanks baby. Can you tell him that I'll just be minute? And where's your mother?"_

_"Mummy's at the Parkinsons. She left __**ages**__ ago. I'll go to Malcolm and tell him you'll be there soon. Can I sit with you in the study daddy?"_

_"Sure pumpkin, I'll be there in a second."_

_Calliope skipped from the room then began walking more slowly. She knew that Malcolm was a bad man, he let his hands wander whenever she was close to him. Calliope had told Seraph and she had told Calliope that Malcolm was wrong to do that, and that Seraph would make sure that Malcolm would be sorry, but it would take some time for Malcolm to realise. For the moment Calliope should listen but stay as far away from Malcolm as she could when her daddy wasn't there. Eventually she got back to the study and stood just inside the door._

_"How have you been Calliope?" Malcolm asked._

_"Fine." It was always best to stay as quiet as possible._

_"Why don't you come sit by me? I can barely hear you all the way over there."_

_"Daddy said he would just be a minute. I want to wait for him."_

_"You aren't even going to kiss me hello?"_

_"Malcolm, sorry to keep you waiting." Kieran said from behind Calliope._

_"Not at all mate, I was just talking to your lovely daughter here."_

_"You get more Australian every time I talk to you mate." Kieran sat down and Calliope cuddled close to him. "Did you say this was a business call?" Calliope pretended to fall asleep as she listened intently to the conversation, taking note of what she should pass on to Seraph._


	14. The second binding

A few people (very few as practically no one responded to the intermission. It was short but as this note shows you, I still need input.), mentioned that the last chapter was confusing. This, unlike most of the other chapters, was not meant to be confusing so I will explain. The intermission, as well as clearing my thoughts so I could sleep, was meant to give you a few clues about Incognito. It told you the basic age range (7 – 19) and that Blaise and Cassandra take a personal interest in their agents. I will be developing this further but Blaise and Cassandra are primarily interacting with their leaders and those whom they have a special interest in. I also wanted you to see the general way Incognito acts before you read their next scene (which is not in this chapter but I am planning it) and think that Blaise is a heartless evil Slytherin.

I have decided to ask for beta's again. I would like two, at least one of which has a firm grasp on grammar and one of which has an idea of British culture and language. If you have both that would be even better. I will be starting my next semester of TAFE soon so the chapters will not be coming quickly.

**The second binding**

Many people thought that Hermione was not able to fly and many, strangely enough, attributed that to a dislike of the speed involved. When you are sitting on a stick in the sky you have no protection at all from the force of the air you are flying through. With your robes flapping and the wind passing by you so quickly you barely have a chance to breathe it in, a dislike of fast speed does cause a problem while flying on a broom. Those people who thought that Hermione was afraid of flying would definitely be rethinking their position when they saw Hermione and Blaise flying down the freeway in a convertible with the wind sweeping out their hair and a huge smile on both their faces because the truth was that Hermione loved speed. She loved the feel of the wind flying past her face, she loved the sight of the world around her blurring into a multicoloured streak and she loved the idea that if she could only go fast enough she could leave the world and her troubles behind. It was because her love for speed that Hermione preferred not to fly, she was inclined to get so lost in the sensation that she forgot to pay attention to where she was going, which tended to result in unpleasant wake-up calls. This was why her parents refused to buy her the motorcycle she wanted.

Blaise noticed the sheer happiness on Hermione's face and decided to give her a more pleasant wake-up call, he raised the roof of the car. Hermione quickly noticed the loss of wind and frowned.

"What did you do that for?" she asked.

"I had to get your attention somehow and I would rather keep both hands on the wheel."

"Well you have it. What do you want?" She was most definitely annoyed.

"Just wanted a talk. I have overheard a fair few future alumni talk about your fear of flying. A lot of the students think you have a fear of heights but others suggested that you don't know how to control your broom and have a fear of making it go to fast."

"It would have been the younger students that thought I was afraid of heights, I have had no problems leaning over the astronomy tower which our classmates can attest to. I am cautious of flying too quickly but not for the reason I am sure you and those of whom you speak are alluding to."

"I gathered that myself, why don't you fly often?"

"There is no need. I spend too much time helping Ron and Harry with their problems and doing my course work as it is. I loose myself in my thoughts when I am flying, I don't keep track of time and could easily spend hours simply flying over the country side, provided I don't crash into a plane or tree of course. Why don't you fly if it's such an unnatural thing?"

"It's not unnatural. People just talk about you since all your friends spend so much time flying. Most of us just don't have any reason to fly at Hogwarts. Anyway, the safest place to fly is the quidditch pitch and that is often booked for team practice."

"I noticed that myself too. Do you want to talk about Cassandra now? Even just to tell me a little about her?" Hermione asked.

"Not really but you obviously want to hear about her. As I have said before, I've known Cassandra since I was five, almost six. We met at a party held at her fathers house, Cassandra had been locked in her room and I was curious about what was behind her door. As a child I had a natural talent for locks and could channel my natural magic to open any lock I encountered. Cassandra was scared of me, she had never met a person before. Her mother had died in childbirth and her father despised her. She had a house elf who cared for her and that was the only living thing she had ever seen before me. I gained the house elfs' trust and convinced her to bring Cassy to visit me occasionally. She would pop in and see if there was anyone around, if I was alone she would bring Cassy and we would play together, or I would do my homework with her. When my parents built my house I invited Cassy to live with me. To the best of my knowledge her father has not realised that Cassy has left her room yet."

"She seems very possessive of you." Hermione observed.

"For many years the house elf and I was the people Cassandra had ever seen. This is the only fight we have ever had. We came close when I left for Hogwarts but … Anyway, she is worried that you are threatening her place as my closest confidant. I would have introduced you today but it won't go well until Cassandra calms down a bit."

"Jet was a bit possessive of my time too, until Hogwarts anyway. We knew other children obviously, since we went to school, but we were just drawn to each other. I would think we are soul mates but we are related."

"Cassandra and I felt the same way, we still do in a way. I know when she enters a room even when I am absorbed in something else, I will do everything in my power to make her happy. I would jump in front of her to protect her from harm and I know that she would do the same for me. I imagine we would look like we were playing leap frog, jumping in front of each other like that. I see Cassy as my angel, my guiding light in my darkness. Cassy tells me that she thinks I am her refuge, I dark place to hide from the rest of the world."

"It sounds like she is in love with you, and you with her." Hermione was a bit jealous. She knew that this wasn't a loving marriage but she would prefer if her fiancée wasn't in love with someone else.

"I love her and I can't imagine my life without her but I am not 'in love' with her. She is more my sister then my lover. I almost raised her, I taught her about the world and the people in it. I taught her to read and to write and to count. We grew up together and that gives me too much knowledge about her to become her lover or husband. I would think that the same would occur to her."

"You told me once that Cassandra loved Disney and fairy tales didn't you?" Hermione asked.

"Maybe, you're right if I didn't." Blaise answered.

"I think Cassandra sees you as the prince who has rescued her. I think she believed that you will marry her to give her a 'happily ever after'. That would cast me as the wicked witch her tries to ensnare the prince to keep the princess trapped." Hermione reasoned.

"I've already freed her, if you must put it in those terms. She is away from her father, has muggle qualifications and access to enough money to set her up for life. Isn't that enough for a happily ever after?"

"How many children's stories have you even heard of when the girl doesn't marry the prince?"

"Well if your such the expert how do I deal with the problem?" Blaise asked.

"Put her to sleep and wait for another man to wake her up?" Hermione suggested. "We're entering Greenwhich, do you know where the registry office is?"

"Yeah, I looked it up."

Blaise and Hermione spent a good minute standing outside the office before they entered and made their way to the appropriate counter.

"Can I help you?" The woman behind the counter asked Blaise with a flirtatious smile. She completely ignored Hermione.

"Yes, my partner Hermione and I would like to give official notice of our intention to wed."

The woman looked Hermione over and sneered. "Do you have written consent from your parents to be married?"

"I am 18." Hermione replied and gave the woman her passport. Her tone was very smooth but she was imagining how she would torture the woman if she got the chance.

The woman harrumphed. "I will also need to see evidence of your address and of the legal ending of any previous marriages."

Hermione gave the woman her most recent bank statement which had been dated for the previous week while Blaise gave her his passport and bank statement. The woman's eyes widened as she saw the balance of Blaises account but she just gave them their documents back then shuffled some paper from under the counter before giving them a form. "Please complete this."

The form just asked questions such as their names, age and where they intended to marry. They quickly completed it and gave it back. The woman scanned it as she had their passports.

"If you intend to have your ceremony here there's another form for you to complete." She said. Blaise and Hermione completed all the paperwork the woman found that she could throw at them. An hour later they were on their way back outside.

"I believe that someone promised me an ice-cream." Hermione hinted as they went down the elevator.

"I believe someone promised not to bring up the subject of my childhood friend."

"Really? I don't recall that being the subject of a promise. I recall some mention of the subject, yes, but not in the proximity of the words 'I promise' or 'I swear' or even 'I vow'."

"I don't remember uttering the words promise, swear or vow either."

"I said that I would wait outside if you promised" Hermione stressed the word promise "to get me an ice cream. You said 'Fine' which was an acceptance of the promise."

"Did you ever plan to be a lawyer? You have an unholy passion for the intricacy of people's words."

"How is remembering the word 'Fine' an example of paying attention to intricate wording? Or remembering the difference between a willingness to wait and a promise?"

"The way you dissembled the conversation reveals close attention to the subtleties of the conversation."

"Let' say that I concede the point, which I don't, how is that a bad thing? It would limit the amount of misunderstandings in our interactions."

"Or increase them as you read more into my words then I had meant to say."

"But you wouldn't say anything that you didn't feel at that moment. Words spoken in anger are still heart felt and therefore reveal what the person is feeling."

By this point they had gotten out of the elevator and were making their way through the foyer to the doors, passing by a woman who was waiting on a courtesy seat against the wall.

"Blaise, really." She said as she got up. Blaise stopped walking and turned around with Hermione.

"Mother, what are you doing here?" He asked in shock.

"Why, I came to meet Hermione of course. Your father contacted Robert and asked for a picture but I rather wanted to meet her in person. How are my dear?"

"How did you know I was here?" Blaise asked before Hermione could reply.

"Zachary told me that he saw you driving though the gate. I of course flooed Albus to ask why you weren't at school and he told me that he gave you and Hermione a pass from school to notify your marriage. And you really should not interrupt Blaise, I asked Hermione a question."

"Who's Zachary?" He asked.

"Zachary is our new guard for the gates. Now allow Hermione to answer the question or I'll revoke your allowance for the next three months."

"I'm well, Mrs. Zabini, thank you for asking. How are you?" Hermione asked politely. It was really a pointless question.

"I'm well too, Hermione. You're not nervous though? I was almost terrified before my wedding, offcourse I only met Zachariah a month before hand while you have had these six years to get to know Blaise. I must admit he never mentioned you much, but of course we rarely see him even during the holidays so he wouldn't have had much of a chance." Mrs. Zabini laughed and began to draw the group out the doors towards a small café nearby.

"I'm not really nervous. Blaise and I are getting to know each other splendidly. In fact we had planned to use this afternoon to do so. You know, get away from the confines Hogwarts places on us. The house rivalries and so on…"

"Of course, a splendid idea." Mrs. Zabini agreed. She seemed about to go on when Blaise interrupted again.

"What happened to William? I thought he was in charge of manning the gates."

"William was living beyond his means. When your father and I realised we questioned him about it. William refused to answer our questions so we fired him. I was beginning to be unsatisfied by his performance anyway. I can't count the number of times I have tried to find you on the grounds and been unable to though William swore that you hadn't left and the floo had not been used. Since you intend to use this time to get to know each other and I wish to know Hermione better why don't I accompany you this afternoon? Really, it would suit both of our purposes."

"Mother, I think Hermione and I would be more comfortable by ourselves. We have so little time at school…" By this time they had arrived and were sitting at a small table with a waiter taking their orders. Mrs. Zabini ordered a latte and waited for the waiter to leave before replying.

"Nonsense Blaise, Albus told me how you two are sharing a suite at school. I'm not sure I am happy about that actually, sex should not occur until after the vows have been spoken. I do hope you haven't indulged yourselves yet."

"Mother! Never speak about that in front of me again!"

"You're eighteen now Blaise. You should know how you came to be here. How old are you Hermione, when is your birthday?"

This day was not going well for Blaise. Cassandra was pissed at him, his parent had fired his guard so he would need to find blackmail insurance against the new one and now he was stuck with his mother for the foreseeable future. Life sucked.

"I'm eighteen, my birthday was on September 12th." Hermione answered.

"You're older then my Blaise. He just turned eighteen two weeks ago but to me he'll always be my baby boy. What is your view on children Hermione?" By now both Hermione and Blaise had managed to collect their cool and only their eyes widened at that comment.

"They're small?" Hermione replied in an attempt to divert her future mother-in-law's attention.

"Yes, they are. It helps their cuteness factor. I believe that a child's cuteness is a defence mechanism, it makes adults who have never had children still feel compelled to protect them. How many children are you planning on having?"

"Blaise and I haven't actually discussed that yet. I hadn't planned on having children until finish university. I suppose with the stipulations of the contract we shall have to try a bit sooner but we certainly won't be trying for our first until after we finish Hogwarts and I won't consider having more until our first is toilet trained."

"But the need to try and conceive an heir is specified in the contract which is magically binding. Even if you have a muggle wedding, which you are obviously planning on doing, the contract will sense that you are now wed and if it senses that you are not trying to keep the terms of the agreement it will exert it's magic to prompt you to do so."

"How, exactly will it do that?" Hermione asked a bit sceptical, even with her experience with magical contracts.

"Well, it will increase your sexual drive at the very least. Depending on the circumstances of the breach of contract and your fathers intentions at the formation of the contract, it may also increase your fertility to make it more likely that you conceive. Haven't you read the contract yet, my dear?"

"Professor Dumbledore gave us a summary of the terms but it didn't mention anything like this. He made it sound like we had to make at least one attempt when we were comfortable with each other, not a continued effort as soon we signed the sign the papers. How can the betrothal contract magically bind us to its terms? We're not mentioned by name, we didn't sign it and it didn't say that we had to marry, just consider the idea." Hermione was outraged but remained mindful of her surroundings and so whispered her disbelief, very vehemently.

"But we put on the rings, the rings came from the betrothal and bound us to it." Blaise explained.

"Did you know about this?" Hermione asked. She thought that she could trust Blaise but this would be a major betrayal.

"I found out yesterday but you were so happy after being miserable for a week that I didn't want to ruin your mood. I planned on telling you today, while you had ice cream and cake and all those things that make the world go round but then we had this unexpected," Mrs. Zabini glared and Blaise quickly added a compliment "yet lovely, addition for our outing and I didn't get the chance."

"I can't have a baby this early in life, Blaise. I need to finish school, I need to go to uni and get my degree. I don't even know what degree I want yet but I know I need to go to uni without a child to get it."

"Why do you need to go to uni? Blaise is perfectly capable of supporting you and your children. He has a job waiting for him at his fathers company as soon as he finishes Hogwarts and will have a steady income for the rest of your lives. He will be able to keep you in luxury, you have no need for a degree, you will not even require your NEWT's though I suppose you could complete them by correspondence if you must insist." Mrs. Zabini pointed out.

"I have planned on going to Cambridge University since I was six years old. I have been completing muggle courses by correspondence to gain enough credit to get into the program, every summer I take some classes to increase my chances of being accepted. I have worked for six long years to get into that University and the stupid separation between wizarding and muggle education has made that work very tiring and difficult. I will not forsake that dream so you, your husband and my parents have a grand child to tote around when your children have only just become of age. You can damn well wait until I am ready and that won't be for at least another four years so deal with it."

"You seemed like such a polite child when I first met you, I am glad to see that my first impression of you was wrong."

"Excuse me?" Hermione asked.

"Blaise needs someone who will challenge him. That requires a person who is not always bound by social conventions. However you will be entering the wizarding high society and that requires you to bow to conventions at least some of the time. I have seen that you can do both, you will be a good wife for Blaise."

"I suppose I am glad that you approve of me, though I think your logic to be flawed." Hermione eventually replied after thinking the idea through.

"And in which way do you think my reasoning faulty?" Mrs. Zabini asked.

"I feel that I was rude and lost control at the times when politeness would most be needed at a social gathering of enemies. The wizarding elite is comprised mostly of purebloods, they will sneer and attempt to chip away at my self control for the chance of seeing me lose it, it is at those times when politeness and exquisite manners would be most needed. While I have doubts that you had purposely set out to test me, your remarks could be expected from those I do not call friends and my outburst would not have served me well had it occurred in that circumstance."

"True, but I am able to train you. Albus has informed me that he is trying to hasten your marriage so as to ensure the ministry knows of it's legality before the auctions and can not try to force into the farce. This also allows me to train you for the rest of the school year as you attend functions at our manor over your breaks. As I will be the hostess, I can control the type of people who will be present so that any slips you may make early on are not seen by any that would use it against you. And, of course, Blaise can help you inside of school. He learnt exceptionally quickly as I child, he may be able to teach you his tricks." Mrs. Zabini replied.

"I would be grateful for any assistance that you, or Blaise, could provide me." Hermione accepted the unspoken offer, her mind running through the possibilities that this would present her as Blaise did the same. Mrs. Zabini stood up.

"Well children, I must go. Hermione, it was a pleasure to meet you."

Blaise rose to give his mother a kiss on the cheek. "It was lovely to spend some time with you mother. Tell father that I said hello."

"I will baby. Bring Hermione to the house for Christmas. We can begin to decorate her room and introduce her at the Yule ball."

"Hermione may have plans with her parents for Christmas."

"You're parents are invited too, my dear. I dare say Zachariah will be elated to see your father again, and I would love to meet them both myself."

"I shall convey your invitation with them and let Blaise know of their decision."

"Thank you for that. Good bye Blaise, Hermione." Mrs. Zabini kissed both on the cheek then swept out of the café.

"I was beginning to believe that she would never go." Blaise said.

"I understand why you didn't want to meet her this morning. How did she get me to use such formal language? I could barely understand what I was saying."

"I would have to say that it is a gift of hers. I spent almost a year searching for any kind of spell which could have that effect and couldn't find any."

"It's irritating. Let's go, we've been sitting here for over an hour. I think the wait staff is getting annoyed."

"We ordered, and we made the meal last for most of our conversation. They have no right to get upset, but as we are finished we should leave. Where do you want to go?"

"A park," Hermione decided "with swings and maybe a pond or lake with ducks. It's a school day s there shouldn't be many little ones around."

"As my lady demands, so shall I do." Blaise bowed extravagantly.

"Do _not_ use formal language around me for at least another hour." And they left.

A/N: Can you tell whose talking in these conversations? It is tiresome to write Hermione said, Blaise said, Mrs. Zabini said every single line but if you are getting lost and having to re-read a few lines to work it out let me know and I will make more of an effort to include the characters names to keep it sorted.

Challenge of the day. This is what I was listening to while waiting 14 hours in transit at the airport for my plane to come. And that wasn't counting the marvellous time waiting in line for customs. I wrote this entire chapter on this trip and I still have almost two hours until I can board my second plane. Anyway, challenge: I want artist and song title. I will also give a bonus for anyone who can tell me the approximate time in the song for the two lines, it only occurs once though to me it sounds like a chorus. Just think about it, you'll get it:

(You make believe, that nothing is wrong until you're crying, crying on me. You make believe, that life is so long until you're dying/ dying/ dying on me.)

The reward is whatever you want, provided its written words. I can answer a set of ten questions or so, or I will detail a history of a character. You might ask for a Incognito adventure using your name or I can give you the classic preview. Just put your request in with the song info.


	15. It's all about sex

I'm sorry, my internet connection rebelled and the libraries I have access to don't like fanfic. Luckily classes were cancelled today so I had the chance to get it all fixed up, and found that during the entire week I only got one review .

Thank you to my pretty new beta's: varietygirl and SlytherinFrost.

1**It's all about sex, baby**

_(As the title points out, this chapter is all about the 's' word. Hope this doesn't offend you. It wasn't planned, it just comes out.)_

"What did you want to be when you grew up, Blaise?" Hermione asked, pushing herself slightly on the swing.

"I didn't really think about it. My dad has been grooming me for my profession since I was two, I don't have much choice at this point. It's routine."

"What is it, exactly? What does your dad want you to do?"

"I suppose he want's me to take over the business. It's what most pureblood want for their children. From what I have heard about muggles, the rich always want their children to do that, if they care about their children at all. Do your parents want you to be a dentist?"

"My parents always say they just want me to be happy. Since they planned to marry me off to you, they might want me to just get my education then become a house wife or help you in your profession."

"Well, what did you want to be? When you were six and your kindergarten teacher went around the room asking you what you want to be, what was your answer?"

"When I was six, probably a fairy, maybe a doctor. When I was eleven, just before I found out about Hogwarts I wanted to be a criminal profiler. I wanted to become a psychologist and work with the police to catch serial killers and paedophiles. I would talk with the other specialists helping the police and pick up their little tricks. I would know that I was helping to keep children and the community safe."

"Why don't you do that? You've been working towards getting your muggle qualifications. Dumbledore could make an arrangement like he did for my father. You could get the degrees you need, get some experience, work your way up."

"Not if I had a child. Anyone connected with the emergency sees too much pain to effectively raise a child. Can you imagine your working to catch a paedophile who has kidnapped six little girls and held them captive, torturing and assaulting them, for a week before killing them. Meanwhile I know that my little girl is on a play date at the park with the next door neighbour and four other children. That paedophile I am hunting could just stroll up to the park, just like we are at now, and grab her. If I was a profiler and knew just how many sick individuals are out in the world I would never let my children out of sight. They would resent me, they wouldn't learn to be independent. If I fall pregnant I would feel like I have to stay away from all the emergency services, or anything with a high risk to me."

"I would be there too; I would not leave you or my child. I could try to keep you from being too protective. I can get hold of some very potent protective charms and detail some non-obtrusive body-guards. Our child would have better protection then the monarch or president of any country in the world. He or she will even if you decide to go for a more… serene job."

"Blaise, we planned to be married for three years then divorce. What if you fall in love? What if I fall in love? If I had a child, even if I was not entirely ready for them, I couldn't leave them. It sounds like you wouldn't be able to leave them either. There might be a huge custody battle which we couldn't explain to the infant. And as for the security, how would I explain to my new husband why my daughter was better protected then the queen."

"He wouldn't know. I told you, unobtrusive. You wouldn't know who or where the agents where, the child wouldn't know, the husband wouldn't know. It would just be me and one or five other people from the agency."

"You're serious about this, you want to have children. You wouldn't mind having children with me." Hermione was amazed.

Blaise thought back at what he said. 'What would you like to be? You can be whatever you want to be. I would not leave you or my child. Luckily Hermione seemed to have missed that sentence or the first half anyway. He would analyse why he said that later. The child would have protection, even if Hermione had a job as harmless as a fruit picker. How did she get the idea that I want a child?'

"I am not saying I want a child. I am not saying I don't want children." Blaise was picking his words carefully. My understanding of the contract is that unless one of us is truly infertile we will end up with a child. For the purpose of this conversation lets see that as a given. Agreed?"

"For the conversation, okay. We can discuss it further later."

"If we have a child, I will love it. I am attached to children, after how Cassandra and I grew up I feel very protective of them. The way we, Cassy and I, grew up also makes me doubtful that I will be a good parent. I have a job, my parents don't know about it, which keeps me very busy. You will see that next year. I will have little time for the child, just like my dad had little time for me. I don't like it, but I can't help that. I would prefer not to have a child until I have more time for it. It is not a reflection of you but it is my view on it."'

"What is your job? What you were saying before didn't make much sense."

"Cassandra and I run a program for kids. It is a bit like a holiday camp and a bit like a big brother or big sister program like the muggles have. One of the reasons why I have so many bedrooms in my house actually. When the kids have trouble they sometimes come to me, I talk to them and give them a chance to cool off."

"Sounds like you have a fair amount of time for them, what makes you think you won't have time for your own child?"

"I don't know. Why are you so against a child with me?"

"It's not you. I don't want a child at all." Hermione said.

"I gathered that. Why are so against the child? If you just accept the possibility you might calm down again."

"It will get in the way. I just want to finish my schooling."

"You are being selfish, why can't you grow up! You have spent all this extra time completing two full time courses. I think it has given you the impression that school is meant to be like this. A lot of parents are doing higher education now. You can do university degrees by distance education now. Just like the muggle courses you are doing now. You can stay at home with the child and do your studies while they are asleep. Apparently babies sleep a lot. You can do more work while the child plays, just look up occasionally to make sure she doesn't crawl off. If you feel you must actually attend University we can assign a house elf to look after the child or, if worse comes to worse we can ask our parents. There's also the fact that as you said, I'll be there. Sometimes it feels like you always forget that this affects me to. I'm always trying to calm you down and remind you that it's just three years. You have survived Voldemort, death eaters and a lot of prejudice and idiots over the past six years. Why are having trouble acting like an adult when you are just facing three years with me and a child."

"The child will not disappear after three years Blaise. It is a life-long commitment." Hermione yelled, drawing looks from people passing by.

"It can be if you want it to be." Blaise said softly.

"What?"

"If you truly can't handle it, when you and I divorce you can give me full custody. I will take the child, leave you some contact details and you need never hear from either of us again. I won't ask for money, I won't contact you at all. I will leave everything up to you."

"What if I can handle it, what if I 'grow up'?" Hermione asked.

"We can share custody. The child spends some time with me, some time with you. We'll probably alternate holidays and birthdays, if you can't have him or her for some reason you can call me to pick him/her up, I'll call you if I have the same problem. We'll probably have to live close to each other so school won't be a hassle. I would rather our child not go to boarding school if you don't mind."

"Not until Hogwarts, she'll have to go then."

"She?" Blaise asked.

"I'm sick of 'the child' and he/she is encumber some."

"You've calmed down?"

"I'm sorry Blaise. All these years of Voldemort and everything that goes with him seems to have taken my reserves of maturity. I guess you can say I've regressed a bit. I'll try to grow up again, just call me out when I slip back. Do you think we can head back to Hogwarts? I'll like to talk to Ginny."

"If Dumbledore told my mother that we were visiting her, he might have done the same to your parents."

"My parents should be working. You can tell Dumbledore that you've met them if he asks. It is technically true."

"Back to Hogwarts it is then. After you princess." Blaise slipped off the swing and did a flamboyant bow to usher Hermione in front of him.

Back at Hogwarts

Hermione and Ginny were sitting on the short wall surrounding the top of the astronomy tower.

"So, you are now officially engaged and soon to be married?" Ginny clarified.

"As of this morning Blaise and I can get married in fifteen days."

"And you met Blaise's mother?"

"I guess I would have had to, sooner or later."

"She told you that unless one of you are infertile you are guaranteed to end up with a child." Ginny continued.

"That's what she implied. I don't think it is guaranteed yet."

"She also offered to give you lessons on being a pureblood wife."

"And told Blaise to teach me as well, yeah." Hermione's tone showed she was annoyed. She didn't want more lessons, Ginny taught her enough.

"Then you talked with Blaise about it."

"More like he talked to me."

"He told you to grow up because you were so against the idea."

"I can admit that I was not handling it well." That was another sticking point. Hermione didn't like her reactions to this situations but she was finding it hard to control herself.

"But you managed to get yourself together and accept the possibility, though not the certainty implied."

"Then we came back and I got you to talk to me about it."

"You have had a really bad day."

"I think so too."

"Did you enjoy the morning at least? I know I like how people were screaming down the hallway." Ginny tried to lift Hermione's spirits.

"They just have slow digestive systems. It took longer for the potion to take effect. Too bad Harry and Ron weren't affected." Hermione explained.

"I'm sort of glad Harry wasn't. It could be dangerous if Harry thought Voldemort came back and was shooting curses every where."

"Voldemort still isn't Harry's worst fear Ginny. He would have to think that there were a heap of Dementors around, but I am pretty sure a Patronus running around wouldn't hurt anyone."

"Still, it might not have been the best potion to use."

"Dumbledore would be able to handle Harry; and the potion has weakened the ability to focus which affects the ability to perform magic. Did you see any magic being performed by students before Dumbledore froze everyone?"

"That seems like very dark magic."

"Ginny, would I do something that would seriously hurt someone?"

"I know you Hermione. Do you really want me to answer that?"

"I'll survive without the answer." Hermione replied.

"So, the baby issue, what are you going to do?" Ginny asked.

"You're the grownup, what are my options?"

"I can see three."'

"Really, I can't see any. What good eyesight you have." Hermione mocked.

"All the better to solve your problems with my dear. Option one: you be stubborn. You threaten to castrate Blaise if he so much as takes his shirt off in front of you. This will result in the contract increasing your fertility and sexual drive. If you take this route you are almost guaranteed to fall pregnant the first time you fall off the band wagon unless either of you are infertile. If the ministry gets hold of the information there could be an inquiry about the validity of our marriage."

"We have such a caring and understanding government, so concerned with the populations sex life."

"Option two," Ginny continued "you use muggle contraception. Abstinence, condoms, spermicide. This relies on Zachariah performing the spell to enforce the contract and on him not having much knowledge about muggle methods. I wouldn't rely on this option, if he went to a muggle university he probably picked those things up. The bathrooms at nearby pubs tend to have condom dispenses in them."

"How do you know these things?"

"Option three is that one of you make yourselves infertile. I really wouldn't go with option but it is available. A lot of muggle clinics won't tie a woman's' tubes unless she's fifty or so, generally the woman is already going through menopause so it doesn't matter as much by that stage. Men can get it done a lot sooner since they can lay sperm aside if they want. I still don't think it is likely that they will do Blaise since he is just 18 but you might find someone. There are also some potions that will make people infertile. They tend to be dangerous and make the drinker sick, but they exist. There aren't any spells."

"I'll reassure you by saying no to option three. Blaise would never agree and I might want children later down the track. I think I'll let you work out what option I choose based on my behaviour. I love you like a sister but I wouldn't tell my sister if I was having sex either."

"I already know what option you will take, you don't need to spell it out. You should talk to Blaise, does he know you are talking to me about his potential sex life."

"I'll let him you know, before I tell you the size of his equipment. Thanks for calming me down some more Ginny. I, and probably Blaise, am very grateful for your help."

"Just before you go, is it safe to have breakfast tomorrow? Everyone is scared to eat today but they'll be desperate by tomorrow morning."

"I think the rest of the school will hold out until dinner tomorrow night. Want to bet?"

"Will you be in the Great Hall to oversee the conclusion of the bet?"

"Depends on how lucrative the bet will be."

"Five galleons?" Ginny offered.

"I'll see you at the great hall tonight. Make sure the bet is still viable tomorrow."

"Do you have anything planned for tomorrow? Just out of curiosity."

"Snape might be acting a bit strange. Well, not really strange, just… he might be in a bit of a bad mood. I'd try to stay out of his way if I were you."

"And if I were you?"

"That would be telling. See you tonight Ginny. Oh, and Ginny, you might want to put these in before you go to be tonight." Hermione gave Ginny some green ear plugs. "You still like 'Linkin Park' don't you?"

"Yeah, later Hermione."

"See you later Ginny."

**that night during dinner**

As suspected by both girls, the great hall was almost deserted and the few students who were there were talking to people from other houses and glancing nervously around at the tables of food. Hermione hid a small smile and pointed her wand at a pie near two girls who added a sneer towards Hermione while they were scanning the room. The pie exploded, throwing it's fillings everywhere and the girls screamed. Half the students who had braved the hall ran for the doors while the professors at the head table swooped towards the table. Professor Dumbledore beckoned for Hermione to come up to him.

"I trust that you weren't behind that displayed, my dear."

Hermione had already begun plying her mind with memories from that afternoon.

"I'm sorry, sir. I just had such a horrible afternoon, my control is not as good as it normally is. Those girls were just 'looking' at me and I've been on edge for so long, I must have just slipped and made that happen."

"You had a difficult afternoon?"

"Some unpleasant shocks, sir. Blaise and I are still discussing the ramifications. I'll try to keep better control of my emotions."

"See that you do. I believe you were almost finished, why don't you go back to your rooms and continue your discussion with Mr. Zabini?"

"Certainly sir, I am sorry about my slip." Hermione left thinking 'next time I'll wait until you aren't here.'

**Challenge:**

I don't think that people liked my last challenge so I decided to put this out there.

"Yeah, we'll be prepared. For what?"

"For the death of the King."

"What, is he sick?"

"No fools, we're going to kill him."

"Great idea, who needs a king."

**By the way, ctc, I still owe you a reward, put your request in a review and I'll get it to you asap.**


	16. Planning

If I disappear for months at a time just leave a nice review and it becomes much more likely I will write a new chapter if my schedule permits. To be honest I will probably disappear again after February as I start my additional needs work experience but everyone says next semester is easier then the last one so a may manage some. I don't anyone will understand everything I just wrote but I am leaving it here anyway.

Has anyone noticed that I have only written four days? (If you discount the week I skipped). I've done a Saturday, Sunday, quick Sunday again and Monday. I discovered this when I went through my story again to see what I have done so far.

Chapter Sixteen: Planning

Monday night after dinner

Hermione entered the suite she shared with Blaise and saw him lying on the floor looking into the fire.

"Expecting a call?" She asked.

"No," Blaise answered "I just like looking at the flames. Why do you ask?"

"I was wondering if you wanted to go for a walk with me. I thought we might sit on the roof and talk."

"Sure. Let me just put a jumper on."

Blaise went to his room and came out quickly pulling a jumper on. "Let's go."

Hermione lead Blaise back to the roof where this had all started for her. The pair leaned against the wall behind them and stared out at the sky.

"I talked to Ginny about what happened today." Hermione broke the silence.

"Which part?"

"How we will probably get married in fifteen days, how I meet your mother and will be getting high society ettiquitte lessons from both your mother and you, how I will lost my cool about the baby and you had to tell me to grow up again. I asked her for advice about it."

"What did she say? Anything useful?"

"Things you probably knew but didn't want to talk with me about. She said we have three options. We, really I, can be stubborn and refuse to give in. I would probably fall pregnant the first time we give in. We could use muggle contraception and hope that the magic doesn't realise or one of us could make ourselves infertile. I dismissed the third option straight away,"

"Good, because I won't make myself sterile."

"but I thought we should discuss the first two."

"We have got two weeks."

"Blaise, I'm trying to do what you asked and act like an adult. If I can handle this conversation, I should be able to rest of the discussions we need to have. Let's get this decided."

"Okay I'm listening. The way I see these options are: Do **you** want to decide when you want to sleep with me or do you want the magic to decide?"

"So you're leaning towards option two?"

"If the magic is forcing you to want me, then it is little better then rape. I would prefer it if you went into my bed with a clear head. There is a form of contraception which the magic won't notice unless it senses our emotions?"

"What would that be?" Hermione asked.

"Abstinence. We do it when you are least likely to conceive. The spell sees that we are sleeping together regularly but your body isn't prepared to make a child. Not fool proof, but only celibacy is."

"Option one is celibacy."

"But the contract did say we had to try for a child before we divorce. If we hold on until the last night the magic may ensure that you conceive that night. Waiting all those years won't be good for wither of our tempers or concentration. I personally believe that a child would be less distracting then magically induced lust building in me."

"So abstinence it is. Anything you want to discuss while I hold on to my maturity?"

"Money. How are we going to handle it? Separate accounts, joint accounts? Since we are leaning towards separate lives, separate accounts may be better but the ministry may object to the validity of the muggle marriage if we do everything the muggle way. In the wizarding world we tend to have family vaults."

"Most of my money is in muggle banks. The ministry won't know much about it. You showed a muggle bank statement when you registered so I suspect you have the same situation."

"Dumbledore made that statement as proof the muggles would accept. That was my gringotts account."

"I thought that you said your family had a family account."

"My parents want me to be self sufficient. They put my allowance in my own account so I don't have to ask them every time I want something and I don't have a mountain of gold if I don't really want to buy anything."

"That makes sense. Want to go back inside now?"

"Whatever my lady wishes. After you Cinderella."

1 am Tuesday morning

Ginny had learnt quickly that when Hermione wanted revenge, she would work at it. It was one of the things Ginny liked most about her as she herself did the same thing. If you crossed a powerful witch, sooner or later you would regret it. When they sat back and planned it, all you could do was wait for it to be over and pray you were still sane when it was. Those times the regret tended to be later and a lot more heart felt then the occasions when it was sooner.

"You might want to put these in before you go to be tonight." Ginny remembered Hermione saying "You still like 'Linkin Park' don't you?"

It had been clear that Hermione planned something for the sixth year Gryffindor girls that night, and what a plan it had been. When Ginny laid on her bed listening to the music her earplugs had been enchanted the play, the rest of the girls in her dorm except one were squealing at the spiders, snakes and various other creepy crawlies littering the floor. The poor girl who was not afraid to lie on her bed with spiders crawling over the covers had her pillow pressed over her head to try and block out the sound. None of the spells cast on the insects, arachnids and other pests had worked and silenco was proving ineffective when applied to her pillow, quilt or bed hangings. Professor McGonagall would be called if she cast in on the other girls in her room which meant that the only girl who got a decent amount of sleep that night was Ginny. And with her brothers she had the perfect excuse for having the ear plugs in the first place.

Breakfast

The bugs, which had in fact infected every room in Gryffindor tower keeping almost every student awake, had disappeared by five am that morning. Still too skittish to try and rest until classes started they rushed to the great hall as soon as it was light enough to see properly, keeping an eye out for any spiders which might cross their path. Trailing behind the rest of the tower Ginny amused herself by creating spider webs for people to walk into.

They breathed a sigh of relief at seeing the professors at the head table and sat at their table, still looking around. Ginny went up to the head table.

"Professor MacGonagall, may I speak with you for a minute?"

"What is it Miss Weasley?"

"Well, it appears that our tower has been infested with various insects. Mostly harmless, I've spent a lot of time in the woods so I recognised the insects. It appears, however, the rest of the students have a fear of them and so kept everyone else up all night, screaming and jumping around. You may want to speak with them, so they will sleep tonight." Ginny suggested.

"You appear to be remarkably well rested."

"As I said, I knew the insects were harmless. I said as much the other girls in my dorm but they wouldn't listen so I gave up. I used so ear plugs that Hermione gave me to block out most of the sound and that let me sleep."

"Miss Granger knew about the insects so she gave you the 'ear plugs' was it?"

"Hermione has spent some holidays at the burrow. She knew I would probably appreciate the ear plugs, especially with Fred and George blowing things up. She didn't give me them because of the insects."

"Very well. I don't know how so many insects could have gotten past the wards around the castle or why all the screaming didn't cause the alarm to go off in my quarters but I will give you the benefit of the doubt. I'll check the tower today and speak to you all in the common room tonight. Go back to your seat Miss Weasley."

Ginny turned around and saw the Great Hall was becoming more full. The other three houses, looking much better rested them Gryffindor was, were trickling in. They looked warily at the food on the table in front of them then looked at each other. Ginny sat down next to Damian, her most recent and began to eat.

"What are you doing? Don't you remember what happened yesterday?" Damian yelled.

"I'm sure Professor Dumbledore has checked the food this time. It looked bad enough to the board of governors that the food was affected yesterday, he would make sure nothing could have happened today. Open you mouth." Ginny ordered.

"I'm not sure." Damian stammered.

"Has anything happened to me yet? Open."

Damian gave in and opened his mouth, closing his eyes tightly. Ginny put some of her pancakes in.

"Chew and swallow." Ginny ordered again.

Damian did so then tentatively opened his eyes. Ginny gave him a kiss.

"Good boy. With all the excitement last night I forgot to check my homework. Why don't you finish these for me while I run up to my room to look things over? I'll meet you in History of Magic."

Ginny glanced around as she left. Everyone had looked over when Damian started yelling and many were now trying their food themselves. It would seem hat Hermione owed her ten galleons. Ginny slipped out the doors of the Great Hall and made her way outside.

"That was cheating. The school was meant to pluck up their courage themselves." A voice said behind her.

"That was not mentioned in the rules. We just bet on when they would eat, nothing at all was said about why. Did you talk with Blaise?"

"The 'why' was implied and yes I did speak with Blaise. The baby issue has been sorted out. We still have a mountain of issues to go, but really who doesn't."

"How has your research into appealing this law been going?"

"Not all that well." Hermione complained. "The wizarding world does not seem to have sort of rules to govern the creation of laws. Everyone seems to believe this law is stupid but there is nothing set up to help us stop it. Apparently all those educational decrees are still in effect, the Headmaster can just ignore it if the governors don't force him to abide by it."

"What about you research into Blaise?" Ginny asked.

"My mind hasn't been letting me get any insight into Blasé. I know it would be easier if I did it but I think I'll need your help to find out what he's hiding."

"Then let's have a girls night this weekend and kick Blaise out for a bit. We'll see what we can find in his room."

"Sound's good. I have to go and see Professor Snape before class. I'll talk to you later Ginny."

"Bye Hermione. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"Which would be what exactly?"

Ginny laughed as Hermione walked away.

The success of any plan rests on the information gathered before hand. Hermione had asked Lilac what the most popular breakfast dishes were and drugged them. She knew that at least one person in every room was afraid of either spiders, worms or snakes and made sure to charm each room based on the strongest fear. To get at the Professors of the school, Hermione would need to gather information about them, but that information would not be as easy to gather.

Blaise was well aware of the value of information. He earned hundreds of galleons each month from the use of information in blackmail, extortion and investments. He used the information he had gathered to train his network and taught all his agents how important information was. A year ago he would have felt able to say he had information on all the important people in Britain. Today he could not bring himself to say that as he had no important information on Ginerva Weasley.

He had an agent in Ginny's room and he had already told the agent to investigate Ginny. She had not found anything Blaise could use within Ginny's belongings. He had sent an agent to talk to Arthur Weasley under the guise of interest in working in that department. The agent had talked about his sister being subject to the law and prompted Mr. Weasley to talk about his daughter. Arthur saw his daughter as innocent and perfect. She had a temper and a fondness for nature. All in all he knew nothing about his daughter that was not obvious or an act. Blaise did not know how to get in touch with Mrs. Weasley yet and it was clear that Ginny was not very close with her brothers any more.

He had accessed her school file. Ginny had been home schooled until entering Hogwarts. She was very intelligent and scored top grades from her second year onwards. She had been depressed he first and second year, presumably due to her encounter with Tom Riddle. After her third year she perked up, possibly due to her friendship with Hermione. She had dated numerous boys at the school and had gotten a reputation which her brothers had remained unaware of. That was all anyone, except potentially Hermione knew. Blaise knew he would have to rectify that.

The only thing Blaise could think of which might be effective was her interest in boys. It was clear that Ginny still wanted interactions with boys but had to show herself she remained in control. That was why she dated them then dumped them. If Blaise could find an agent that would maintain her interest she might let something slip. If he remained dominant she might fight to keep him until she dominated him. It was worth a shot, but which agent would be able to portray the change effectively? Or could he transfer someone in?

It was clear that the agents already at Hogwarts would not be effective as Ginny was observant enough to know that it was odd for a boy to suddenly act so differently. There were no agents being home schooled of an appropriate age. Perhaps Cassandra could organise a student transfer from Dumstrang?


	17. Tying things together

I was showing my stats to my brother and he asked what 'Simple Pleasures' was (it's my abandoned story for those who don't know). When I told him how long it has been since I updated it, it occurred to me that I get annoyed sometimes when I find a story I was enjoying appeared to have been abandoned (The La Morte instantly springs to mind). I have decided that if enough people ask me to update that story, I might continue it.

Chapter Seventeen: Tying things together

Wednesday: Potions

With each class that went by following the introduction of the auction Hermione lost more and more respect for her teachers. If she was forced to, she might grudgingly say they were trying, but in this situation Hermione was more apt to believe in the words of Yoda, "Do or do not, there is no try." When it came to managing the students behaviour in their classrooms, or anywhere else in the grounds, the professors were very clearly falling in the category of 'Do not'. Personally Hermione thought she was doing the entire school a favour by making classes become cancelled and sapping her classmates strength and will, her chaos was premeditated and tightly controlled to prevent grievous bodily harm, Madam Pomfrey had seen at least seven students each class period since the passing of the law.

The behaviour of the teachers were divided: some were trying too hard, acting like drill sergeants in an American movie. In these situations they tended to also use the sergeants trick and punish the entire class which did just what it did in the movies and breed resentment which escalates into a fight at some time in the near future. The other teachers predictably were barely trying at all. They were distracted and were very obvious about it. Then there were the classes that nested in-between, Transfiguration and Potions. They, at least, had barely changed. Professor McGonagall was stricter and slightly waspish but in general she maintained her fairness. Professor Snape still kept most of his control but allowed the Slytherins to taunt the Gryffindors to a seething point, and everyone to taunt her, before stopping all communication within the classroom. If it weren't for his underhand remarks about her upcoming nuptials prompting her classmates to begin attacking her and Blaise, he could have remained unscathed. But he didn't, so it was payback time.

Potions began normally enough, taunts and innuendo towards the girls, comebacks by the girl's protectors and Hermione sitting quietly in the back corner of the room to avoid any crossfire and gossip during class. Snape let it go a bit longer then usual then quietened the room and gave instructions for the potion they would be brewing. Hermione slipped on her dragonhide gloves and got to work, brewing a once again perfect potion. Keeping her gloves on she ladled a sample into the vial and walked along the edge of the room to bring it to the table.

"I am glad you finally made it. Twenty points from Gryffindor, Miss Granger, for dawdling. Next time you approach my desk, you are to take a more direct route."

"Yes Professor." Hermione replied then sighed and walked down the aisle between the desks, getting knocked into numerous times as she made her way back to her desk.

Professor Snape picked up the vial, noting that the glass felt a bit wet. Swirling the potion he noticed it was the exact colour and consistency you could expect for this potion, another outstanding and she was still the first student finished. Professor Snape was certain that Miss Granger had to have been the person who had drugged breakfast on Monday, she as the only person in the school, barring himself, with the skill needed to brew a potion complex enough to inhibit will. She was also the only person who would not be averse to using dark magic.

He sat back to observe the classroom, taking in the details of what the students were doing. Most of the students were in the last stages of the potion though many would not be receiving a passing grade, Miss Ganger was sitting back in her seat, rubbing a bruise and jotting something down on a muggle notebook. He took in a deep breath, making sure to keep his chest and shoulders reasonably still so it was not noticeable. There were definitely failing grades though there was an almost intoxicating scent in the air. He had no idea what combination of ingredients could have produced this smell, if it weren't so strong he would have thought it be akin to blood but it was clear that none of his students were suffering from a copious amount of blood loss.

Professor Snape stood up gracefully and began making a circuit around the room, noting each students progress, taking points and trying to find out where the scent was coming from. The last task was as easy as the others, the scent was coming from every student. Even worse, as he moved around the room he started to notice that his hearing was becoming more acute. He could hear the blood gushing through his students' veins and it sounded rather inviting. He had no idea what was happening to him but he would bet that Miss Granger was behind it.

Professor Snape sat back at his desk and picked up the potion sample that Miss Granger had given him a few minutes ago. As he had thought previously it was the correct colour and consistency. He unstoppered it, the correct smell. The vial certainly held the correct potion. He paid more attention to the vial itself; glass, now dry. Forgetting his dignity he held the vial to his nose but couldn't detect anything other then the potion inside the bottle.

"Miss Granger, come here." Good lord was his voice slightly thicker or was it a side affect of his better hearing.

Hermione approached Professor Snape again, wincing as the aisle was suddenly full of elbows, feet and book bags. Snape began to focus on Hermione, paying attention to her heart rate and her scent. It was clear that she was nervous already.

"Yes, sir?"

"Have you been experimenting with potions from the restricted section?"

"No, sir. I haven't been." No noticeable change in heart rate, the truth.

"Have you been making potions outside of this classroom?"

"Not today sir." Truth again.

"Before today."

"I believe you already know about my failed attempt at polyjuice in my second year. I have also been making dreamless sleep for Harry, while he was still talking to me anyway." There was an increase in her heart rate. "I know that we should ask Madam Pomfrey for things like dreamless sleep, but the books are quite clear.." Professor Snape cut her off.

"Were you involved in the incident at breakfast on Monday?"

"I did not go attend breakfast on Monday. Blaise, Ginny and I had breakfast in our suite. I find the Great Hall to hostile." Her heart rate was slowly going down from the previous statement, it was probably the truth but he would continue along that line of questioning.

"Did you go to the kitchen to ask the house elves to put a potion in the food?"

"Sir, I highly doubt the house elves would drug the food at the request of a student and they would not allow me to go near the food. I couldn't even make myself a coffee in the kitchens." Truth again.

Professor Snape wanted to ask her if she had drugged him, but his pride would not allow him to. She was looking at him oddly now and her heart beat was still faster then the rest of the classes, though not any faster then it had been at the beginning of the questioning.

"Get back to your seat." Professor Snape ordered then raised his voice so it could be heard throughout the room. "Bottle your samples, label them then get out. Anyone still in this room in ten minutes will receive a detention with Filch."

Hermione made her way back to her desk and put away her books and stationary then quickly left the room. She knew all her practice at bending the truth would come in handy. It seemed that Snape did not suspect her anymore.

Wednesday: Lunchtime

After a stop in the kitchens to organise some lunch, Blaise went up to his room and pulled out his comm. book.

'Angel, you there?'

'You know I'm always nearby.'

'You were pretty angry at me on Monday and you didn't reply to my notes yesterday. If anyone else had made these books I would have thought that the spell had failed.'

'I am not happy with you but I have calmed down. I was busy organising your surprise for Miss Weasley yesterday and didn't have time for an idle conversation.'

'That hurts . How did it go?"

'I love working with politicians. They are so devious, so corrupt, so easy to blackmail. I love their expression when they find out someone knows their secrets. I brought Whisper with me and his reaction to being confronted by a little girl… priceless, just priceless.'

'How did she react to her first blackmail assignment?'

'She was confident, alluring. Handled it well really. We might be able to send her out without a babysitter soon.'

'Do you have any ideas about a proper partner for her yet?"

'Not yet. You should make an appearance soon, I'll let you know when we hear back about the surprise.'

'I am sorry I hurt you Angel.'

'So am I, S. So am I.'

Same time: Headmaster's office

Albus Dumledore had become hesitant about answering mail. Few parents dared send Howlers to 'the greatest wizard alive' but he was still flooded with mail everyday, with the same complaints, concerns, pleas and queary's in each one. Until now anyway.

The first thing that captured his attention was the bird. A large hawk owl, clearly well groomed. It was an odd choice in England which ran largely with the common barn owl. The writing on the envelope was slashing to the side and the return address on the back of the envelope was for a manor in Germany. Putting aside the letters that were awaiting his attention, Dumbledore opened the letter.

Dear Professor Dumbledore,

A colleague has recently informed me of the turmoil which has been wrought in Great Britain in the wake of the legislation your esteemed Minister has passed. This colleague has also informed me that your deputy Headmistress has not been granted an exemption to this law. I pondered the consequences of Minerva's predicament and came to a conclusion which I feel could be beneficial for us all.

I have recently fallen out of favour with my own esteemed Chancellor and feel that it would be best if I placed myself under the sovereignty of a new leader. In exchange for your protection from the politics of my mother country, I offer my hand in marriage to your deputy Headmistress. I would expect nothing of this union except your protection for myself and my son, Micah. I would enrol Micah into Hogwarts for the remainder of his schooling and rent a house in Hogsmeade to be close to your influence. This union should not impose on Minerva beyond the requirements of the wedding ceremony itself. In short this can be a marriage in name only, though if Minerva would like my services I would happily oblige her.

Should you convince Minerva to consider this offer, I will make myself and Micah available to meet with her at her convenience.

Yours faithfully,

Rudi Hallaway.

Professor Dumbledore read through the letter again. It was odd, but the letter had a sense of sincerity around it. It was worth discussing with Minerva in any case.

Same time: Great Hall 

Severus Snape was furious and someone was going to pay for it. In fact several students were already victim to the professors growing fury as they were in the corridor when he realised the latest symptom since the seventh year Potions class. The brats had made him allergic to sunlight. He had just passed a window on the way to lunch and now had a burn on his arm. The students were going to pay dearly.

Rather then going directly to the Great Hall in the hopes of finding the headmaster, or going to the hospital wing to be diagnosed and treated by Madam Pomfrey, Snape patrolled the halls, using his enhanced senses to find more students then ever before. By the time he did indeed make his way to lunch, each house had had at least 100 points taken off and Slytherin had a ninety point lead for the house cup. Gryffindor had fallen behind the other houses by over sixty points. Still furious but feeling slightly avenged Professor Snape felt he could actually sit in the same room as the buggers and burst into the Great Hall, relishing the sound of the door slamming behind him.

The warning about Snape had spread around the school after he had taken twenty points from a first year for coughing without a handkerchief, so the students were quick to fall silent as soon as the doors burst open. Many of the first and second years left as quickly as they dared, torn between their desire to get away as quickly as possible and their need to avoid the professors notice for as long as possible. Irritated by the students fear, and his sudden excitement because of their fear, Professor Snape snarled at the closest group of students, barring his newly grown fangs. The youngest students fainted and a third bolted towards the doors. Professor McGonagall shook her head and walked down the aisle to where Professor Snape was reviving the students.

"What did you do to them Severus?"

"I did nothing but look at them, Minerva. It is not my fault that our most recent intake of students are lacking in bravery, common sense, talent and everything worthwhile."

Noting the thickness in his voice, McGonagall looked more closely at Snape.

"Are those fangs in your mouth?"

Snape ran his tongue over his teeth. There were fangs. He started to swear under his breath.

"Go see Albus, I'll escort these students to the hospital wing."

Snape just nodded and left, making sure to slam the doors behind him again.

Ginny laughed softly to herself as she watched Snape storm out. She doubted that it had been his intention, and she was probably the only student that was calm enough to notice it, but he was acting like an angered three year old. The entire spectacle had been hilariously funny; the terrified students afraid of a petulant professor. Then there was the fact that she doubted that there had ever been a Hogwarts student taught by Snape who had not, at one point, made some sort of allusion that he was a vampire. It was enormously funny to see that someone had taken the steps needed to make him one, even if it was presumably for a short period of time. Hermione did nice work when she out her mind towards revenge. Sliding out of her seat Ginny waved away queries from her brother and Ron and went in search of Hermione to congratulate her on her work.

Lunchtime: Library

Even the threat of losing the house cup did not prompt the other students to warn Hermione of Snape's bad mood but lurking in the book stacks allowed Hermione to gain a semi-accurate idea of his reaction to her potion, the story did not need to be exaggerated. It seemed that the herd of mindless sheep had missed the vampire lead; they were the ones to come up with the comparison in the first place. House points were at an all-time low with Gryffindors suffering the most; that was to be expected. She had not been mentioned, but that did not mean that Snape would not suspect her. She wouldn't put it past him to slip her viritaserum and question her again. She would just have evade the questions and play heavily on the fact that after breakfast there was no way the house elves would let anyone near the food or drink, especially a student.

Sitting at a table near the books on wizarding law, Hermione resumed her search for a way to appeal the witch auctions. With all her worries about her own betrothal contract she had been neglecting her crusade on this matter but it seemed she was likely to have a child soon she was going to make sure that her possible daughter would not be caught in the same trap. The lunch period was almost over when Ginny sat in the chair opposite her.

"Can you make me into a vampire for Halloween?" Ginny opened the topic.

"You want me to get you some muggle trick teeth?"

"I was thinking more along the line of a glamour. Like the one Snape was wearing today. Three first years fainted in the Great Hall when Snape snarled at them. McGonagall had to bring them to the hospital wing. I think that Snape went to the Headmaster to get the spell removed."

"Well, if Snape was under a spell, you'll have to ask him about it because I don't know any spells to make a person look like a vampire. I think it was more likely to be a potion, he is a potions master you know."

"I suppose that makes sense, I didn't consider a potion. Professor Dumbledore probably wouldn't happen to have an antidote for something like that lying around, how long do you think it would take to brew an antidote for a vampire potion?"

"It would probably wear off on it's own. Appearance changing potions don't seem to last all that long, polyjuice barely lasts for a couple of hours. I think Snape will be back to his normal appearance one way or another by dinner time, his attitude may take a little longer."

"Do you think he'll still be teaching this afternoon? I'm meant to have him after Arithmancy."

"You should probably avoid looking him in the eye and don't make a sound. Be careful, he can smell fear."

"So, that's a yes?"

"Look on the bright side, you can officially say that you were taught by a vampire."

"Because that looks so good on job applications."

"We've been taught by a werewolf, centaur and polyjuiced death eater, it's time that we added a vampire to the mix."

"I'm not sure that Professor Dumbledore would agree with you."

"He hired Lockhart, his choice of staff leaves a lot to be desired sometimes. I want to go for a walk before history of magic. I'll see you tonight for dinner?"

"You sure you don't want a romantic dinner with Blaise?"

"We have a year of romantic dinners alone next year, I'm sure he won't begrudge your presence tonight."

"I'll meet you in your hallway at six then. Have fun on your walk."

"I'm sure I will." Hermione replied then laughed as she walked out of the library.


	18. It's Still Wednesday

Even just a small walk around the castle was enough to reaffirm Hermione's belief that the world was truly out to get her and that Blaise, Ginny and apparently Luna were simply immune to whatever had influenced everyone else. Her stalker was still out there, not as imaginative but far more brutal then Hermione herself. She had been tripped over, again near stairs, had objects fly into her head, hexes had tried to slice her skin and apparently no one had seen a damn thing. On the up side, Hermione had found she had a little angel on her shoulder. While she had seen the light that formed the slicing hex only moments before it would have hit her, a shield had been erect with no effort from her the moment she recognised the spell. A warmth from her finger indicated that it was from the ring itself and that meant that she could retain her slightly relaxed air gained from planning her revenge.

Fourteen minutes later she was walking through the door to the DADA classroom with a warm, satisfied feeling. She had, indeed, enjoyed her walk.

Wednesday still: After lunch

Blaise could understand the initial reason for planning 7th year DADA immediately after lunch. NEWT level defence could be gruelling and needed an alert mind, lunch allowed the students to refresh themselves and reapply themselves after a good meal. It also allowed the less confident students to remind themselves of the latest defensive spells immediately prior the lesson, thereby reducing the likelihood of needing medical treatment from failed revision. At this point of time, however, Blaise was ready to torture the idiot who constructed their current timetable and which his line of work he had plenty of ideas to go off. He also would not be adverse to having their current idiot under his control for a day or two, even if the fool had unintendedly given him and his future wife an unexpected windfall.

"Today we will be practicing the art of evasion. There may come a time when you are faced with an opponent whom you know to be stronger then you. At this point it is clearly better that you either avoid the confrontation all together or manage to move the fight to an area where you have an advantage. This lesson will initially be taught outside where we will practice agility and endurance then we will move inside where you will be faced with an opponent. So, lets get going."

Blaise had not only been given an almost custom made opportunity to note his fellow classmates physical combat capabilities but the early part of the lesson was looking to be non-magical yet too tiring for hurtful gossip while the latter part was one-on-one and so much better odds with less chance of a 'stray' the fool hadn't let the others push, jab and otherwise physically assault Hermione and himself on their way into and out of the classroom altogether then he might of ignored the man. Alas, he didn't.

Grumbling from the peanut gallery aside, the initial portion of the exercises was good. Not many wizards or witches remembered the need for a warm up before physical exertion yet judging from the limberness Hermione displayed she did some form of physical sport which she kept up during the school term. He, himself, obviously kept himself in top physical shape at all times but the rest of their classmates, while not obviously obese, could not really touch their toes without bending their knees. In terms of endurance, Blaise and Hermione were easily able to stay ahead of the rest of the group and avoid the holes in the turf that mysteriously appeared after their first lap around the quidditch pitch. As they only needed to do three laps around the pitch and were the only students who could jog the entire distance, Hermione and Blaise finished an entire fifteen minutes before the next fittest could and had managed to avoid the attempts at blocking them while overtaking the others each time. Excellent practice for the evasion techniques they were meant to be utilizing later in the lesson.

Once finished and waiting for the rest of the students Blaise and Hermione started their cool down stretches.

"Do you practice a sport Hermione?"

"I do a few, though not many people count yoga as a sport. I also do martial arts, fencing and swimming. I remember you saying that you had a heap of sporting lessons before Hogwarts. Did you continue with any once you came here?"

"I still practice the martial arts. I think I've learnt all I need of the etiquette though I guess we will both be having those again, with me on the teaching side this time round. Not much opportunity for the archery here or home, same goes with the diving and other extreme sports. Where do you pratice your kata's? Do you spar with anyone?"

"I practice in empty classrooms and I don't have anyone to spar with. Same question again."

"I practice on the grounds and I know a couple of students who spar. We might up sometimes though I wear a charm. Some of the sheep here are uneasy around Slytherins. It's easier if they don't recognise me since everyone knows I'm a snake."

"I'd ask you to introduce me but with the current in-school political climate the chances of an accident seems too high. I would like to soar against someone again. My blocks are probably getting weak and it's hard to practice with just mirrors to correct you."

"I'll spar with you. We probably have different styles but it'll still work. We can do it after our etiquette lessons."

"Oh joy. I can hardly wait." The statement was distinctly lacking in enthusiasm.

"You can stick with your mirrors if you want. I can also ask the headmaster if my mother can come here for the weekly etiquette training. All that formal language sticks with you after a while but that is a sacrifice I'm willing to make."

"Not nessecary. I was planning to eat with Ginny in our rooms tonight, do you want to join us?"

"Are we going to get another message from Dumbledore because of chaos in the Great Hall again?"

"I have no idea, if we do I suppose we could find somewhere else that isn't cursed to eat."

The other students had started to finish now and the professor was jogging with the stragglers to chivvy them along. Blaise watched to students come off the field and collapse without a cool down. Most of them probably had walked the last lap and it would serve them right if they cramped. There was enough distance between the others and him and Hermione to continue talking though cautiously.

"Talking of curses, did you happen to notice that Snapes been looking a bit more like a vampire then usual?"

"I heard he was rather irritable at lunch and Ginny did say something about a vampire but I personally didn't see much. Why do you ask?"

"I'm always in the market for a good glamour and you have got the reputation as the brightest witch at Hogwarts. If a student knew how he had done it, it would be you."

"I strongly suspect that if prompted, the Professors would label you as the brightest wizard at Hogwarts. If I could, and I am not saying I have as I haven't really thought much about Ginny's comments concerning Snape, but if I could work out how to do such an advanced glamour, surely you could to."

"You seem very close to Ginny. If she were a male of the age of consent I suspect we would not be engaged at the moment. I almost feel jealous anyway."

"Almost. I can tell you are just as close to Cassandra. To be honest, you should be rather grateful for Ginny, she is the reason I am not reverting back to a five year old every couple of hours. Did you want to thank her while you join the two of us for dinner, or would you prefer it if she and I ate elsewhere?"

"I'll join you."

Their Professor's voice called over the group.

"I doubt we will have time to do the chase inside so instead we will practice dodging attacks. Each time a spell hits you shield, it will weaken the shield and potential drain power from you as you try to keep the shield strong. Therefore it is better by far if you move yourself and shield out of the way." The professor swished his wand saying a spell under his breath. Walls sprung up from the ground to form eight adjoining small rooms. "Form into pairs and enter a room, put up shield then have at your partner. Try and dodge your partner's spells while sending your own. Make sure you do shield in case you can't get out of the way in time. If something happens send up red sparks, if you hear this bell," a bell sounded "_everyone_ is to stop immediately and gather back here. Now chose a partner and shield up."

Despite their knowledge that Hermione, and to a lesser extent Blaise, far surpassed them at DADA, most of the other students still turned to the pair feeling glad to have this chance to hex them.

"Blaise and I will be partners sir. Any room?" Hermione called, pulling Blaise up them snapping up a shield.

"Go to the first one. The rest of you, choose your partners."

Following lunch: Dumbledore's Office

"Sit down Minerva. Tea?" Professor Dumbledore offered.

"Please." She waited until she had a mug in her hands then approached the subject weighing heavily on her mind. "I don't know what we are going to do about this situation with Miss Granger and Mr Zabini. The portraits saw no less the four students send hexes against the poor girl when she was going to her Defence classroom just now, one girl was particularly vicious. We can't hold mass detentions or suspensions for all the guilty parties and the house points are already approaching the negative figures with all the lewd behaviour and remarks going on in the upper classes. The only solution I can see is to remove Miss Granger and her partner for her own safety, but she is entitled to receive an education here."

"I have been considering what we can do with Miss Granger and Mr Zabini. Their parents will be coming to the school this Friday to discuss the situation and the available options. As it is, we have other concerns we need to discuss."

"You still have not found who poisoned yesterdays breakfast."

"All the elves have said that they were not approached by the students and the wards have not allowed anyone else upon the grounds around that time. There was an odd wavering in the wards on late Saturday night but none of the painting say anyone inside, nor did they see the kitchen door open to admit anyone. It pains me to do so, but I can not see how to resolve the issue."

"Miss Weasley approached me this morning, saying that her dorm room had become infested with insects. Nothing dangerous apparently but malicious all the same. Students have sworn that they have been tripped and pushed when no one was around. They're twitchy and nervous. This is not the way the school can be run. Albus. We need to get to the bottom of this."

"I know Minevra. We managed to survive the attentions of Voldemort and his followers only to be brought down by the short sighted plans of the Ministry itself. I will need all the professors to help me strengthen the wards sensing magic in the corridors and then prohibit the use of magic outside of class. It may help Miss Granger as well."

"That will certainly help. Who could be doing this Albus."

"The acts themselves seem juvenile but the planning and experience needed requires a far more mature mind." Dumbledore trailed off then got serious again. "I don't like taking all your free time to discuss business but I received a letter that I think you should read."

The deputy Headmistress took the letter from Dumbledore and scanned the contents. Her mouth dropped and she read it more closely. "Have not been granted an exemption? I didn't even know I had to apply for an exemption! I had not been notified that I was affected at all by this idiotic law."

"It says all unwed women of childbearing age, Minevra."

"While it is not any of your business, Albus, I likely won't be of childbearing age by the end of next year. Has the ministry gone mad?"

"In all likelihood, yes, they are mad. As a result my school has become a battlefield of vindictive childish pranks, I am bombarded by letters from almost every wizarding family in Great Britian and I have not slept more the five hours since this was first publicised. I'll leave this letter with you, the return address is on the top of the parchment. There will be another emergency staff meeting after dinner to discuss the students behaviour, I'll let the others know after class. Have a nice afternoon Minerva."

"Have a good nap Albus."

Madam Pomfrey's voice came from the fireplace. "Albus, an entire room full of students just fell asleep. Apparently there were balloons full of the draught of living death stuck to the ceiling of Greenhouse Two. The balloons just burst and showered the children with the draught. Severus doesn't have the antidote on hand so it will take a week to brew."

"What group was it?"

"Sixth year Herbology students. All houses. Seventeen students total."

"Thank you Poppy. Any other incidents yet?"

"Three students have been covered with pink scales, another has grown boils on his hand and six have become bald. All except the boils have reported simply walking down the corridors and were afflicted as a group. The boils were the results of a potion smeared on the handle to the boy's bathroom. They've been fixed up."

"Thank you Poppy. I'll let you get back to your patients."

"Good luck Albus." Madam Pomfreys head disappeared from the green fire.

"I'll help you with those letters." McGonagall offered. Another long afternoon.


	19. Epilogue Summary

This story is officially abandoned. I try to get back into it and I always end up stopping again so I am giving up. I was asked for a summary should this story be abandoned and so after much procastinaton and broken promises I have written this so this story could be officially ended and a promise kept, in part, before the year ended. On that note one of my new years resolutions is to go to the doctors and get my depression under control so I stop breaking promises like this one. All I have to do is not break my promise to see a doctor. Wish me luck.

This is an overall summary of where this story was going. I will in fact answer straight forward answers within a couple of days of receiving them. It is ambiguous requests that send me into an unproductive spin. Really, feel free to ask specific questions if something is missing.

In general, Hermione, Ginny, Micah and Blaise make life for everyone who annoys them hell at Hogwarts. Pranks were listed, and have since been lost and cannot be recalled. Use your imagination for this part. Dumbledore is accosted but most people really can't see anyone else running Hogwarts so he retains his position as he loses his health. Things calm down at the end of the school year and things are back to normal by the end of the next year once Ginny and Micah are gone. The characters get on with lives, the law is appealed by the end of the next year after Hermione builds a new set of laws allowing ammendents which act to allow appeals in turn. Incognito brides, blackmails and assassinates everyone who stands in the way, which truly isn't all that many people. Hermione and Blaise stay together.

Specific details about situations/people are below followed by specific questions and their answers which I have previously been asked:

**The Rings: **The heat felt at the introductions of the rings was a shield intended to keep them from harm. It blocks hexes, jinxs and curses and lessens the effects of harmful potions though it does completely eliminate them. This idea ended up falling on the way-side but was never completely forgotten.

**Sussannah: **Sussanah is another idea that fell on the way-side but she was forgotten. If remembered she would have been the focus of a lot of attacks when discovered by Ginny and would be removed from Hogwarts early for her own protection.

**Micah: **As you may have guessed, Micah is the agent from Dumstrang sent to discover what he could about Ginny. He is able to get a good assessment on her skills and capability but ends up betraying the secret of Incognito about midway through the year. He and Ginny do end up feeling admiration leading to affection and potentially real love. After leaving Hogwarts, he and Ginny work together in the field as members of the Ministry in different departments. I would place Blaise in the department of mysteries.

**Ginny: **As stated above, she plays with Micah grows to like him and they remain in a relationship after Hogwarts. While never formally a member of Incognito, Ginny does assist in training the next crop of agents and shares the information she picks up with Micah, Hermione and Blaise so she may as well be an agent. Ginny's ambition leads her to seeking a position of power in the Ministry and I believe that she will eventually become the Minister of Magic, using Incognito in a way similar to the secret service and the worlds spy networks combined.

**Hermione: **Hermione finds out about Incognito midway through the school year from Ginny and supports Blaise with running it. She follows through with her plans to attend a Muggle University and become a profiler, building connections with the police. She uses Incognito to assist with the task and is very well respected from her success. When time permits she also assists in training the agents of Incognito.

**Blaise and Incognito: **After Hogwarts Blaise focuses his time on Incognito. He creates a school, which offers day classes for junior students and boarding positions for both junior and senior levels, as a font for the Incognito training grounds. Most of the classes are taught by legitimately trained teachers but each has a spin to teach the art of spying as well as the mandated syllabus for the muggle community. Boarding students have after hours classes for more indepth spy training and promising day students may be invited to participate in 'after school activities' run on the grounds.

In general any day students who catches on to what they being taught or are seen as promising and invited to join Incognito would be able to manipulate their parents/guardians into letting them board at the school and receive better training in turn. Any student who seems untrustworthy and should be taught the skills needed by Incognito would be transferred to a purely academic stream until a place could be created in another school.

As a side note, Malcolm (chap 13) is assassinated by a senior agent before he begins molesting Calliope, as per the promise Cassandra made to her.

**Fear Potion Incident: **The elf that Hermione approached about Breakfast is actually bonded to Hermione and as such is not a Hogwarts elf. I reason that numerous elves would be needed to maintain a castle the size of Hogwarts and a single elf should be able to infiltrate it. Hermione's outspokenness in the books is more like a cover as she has a much better understanding of house elf history and culture than is implied in the books.

**Baby Situation: **They will conceive towards the end of the year when it won't affect schooling and Hermione is used to the idea. The contract does increase the urge but does not increase fertility so abstentious does work. Apparently there are books, so logically websites as well, which spell out how to make abstinence work as a form of contraception. I don't really want to research it as part of a broad summary.

The baby would be raised to be much like Blaise and Hermione: smart, skilled at getting their own way primarily through legit means and on the rare occasions when that fails then through the less honest ways. Once born the baby is cared for by combination of Hermione, Blaise, Cassandra and House Elves. Blaise takes the baby with him for training days when he can and agents help out there as well. When old enough (about four) the child will formally join Incognito but training will really start subconsciously before that. This will become a highly charismatic and powerful person. The world will need to watch out.

**Specific Question**

The Slytherin Nation

How did he get people older than him (because he said he had graduated agents) to actually train and listen to him?

Answer: Force of personality, air of confidence and the use of glamour and bearing to appear older. In general young children (under eight or so) will view a full year age difference as someone older and worthy of respect unless they act in a way which eliminates that respect.


End file.
